How much revenue did Return make?

$23k–$63k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Return sell?

Q: How many copies did Return sell?

5k to 9k copies, based on its 215 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 5k–9k; $23k–$63k after Steam's cut $43k–$97k before Steam's cut; from 215 reviews (Very Positive)

Copies are estimated from the public review count, adjusted for release year, and cross-checked against SteamSpy's own estimate.

Did the prediction match what actually happened?

We hid Return and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Return's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 33k–213k

best case 1.2M (RoboCop: Rogue City)

Games like Return

A typical game among these

≈ 33k–213k copies

≈ $169k–$2.1M after Steam's cut

from ~2k reviews

Only the top fifth of 2019's Steam releases earned $34k or more before Steam's cut, so plan for that or less.

6 of the 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: RoboCop: Rogue City at ≈ 931k–1.5M copies, ≈ $10.2M–$27.5M after Steam's cut. It is a breakout hit, far above a typical game.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 395 reviews in their first month; the range was 181 to 6k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Story Rich (7 of 8) and Dystopian (3 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with FPS + First-Person, priced around $40. The breakout hits carry First-Person + Shooter + Gore; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2016 to 2025, and 3 of the 8 shipped in the last two years.

How these numbers were worked out

A hit here: 1,000+ reviews, roughly $150k+ before Steam's cut (a standard indie benchmark).

Copies come from each game's reviews times a sales-per-review rate that falls with release age, from about 31 for the most recent game here to about 52 for the oldest, then widened into a range; revenue rides on that estimate times price. Source: GameDiscoverCo (2020) and VG Insights (2021).

Similar games

Game	Est. copies	Est. revenue	Price	Reviews	Tags
The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- 2025	Est. copies ≈ 216k–351k 5.4x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $4.2M–$11.2M after Steam's cut $7.6M–$17.2M before Steam's cut	$69.99	9k reviews Very Positive	Multiple EndingsStory Rich
Golf Club Nostalgia 2021	Est. copies ≈ 40k–65k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $110k–$296k after Steam's cut $200k–$455k before Steam's cut	$9.99	2k reviews Very Positive	Puzzle-Platformer2D Platformer
RoboCop: Rogue City 2023	Est. copies ≈ 931k–1.5M 23x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $10.2M–$27.5M after Steam's cut $18.6M–$42.4M before Steam's cut	$39.99	38k reviews Very Positive	FPSAction
Brigador: Up-Armored Edition 2016	Est. copies ≈ 243k–396k 3.6x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $1.7M–$4.5M after Steam's cut $3.0M–$6.9M before Steam's cut	$24.99	6k reviews Very Positive	Twin Stick ShooterAction
BROK the InvestiGator 2022	Est. copies ≈ 32k–52k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $177k–$477k after Steam's cut $322k–$733k before Steam's cut	$19.99	1k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AdventurePoint & Click
The Cub 2024	Est. copies ≈ 16k–27k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $68k–$183k after Steam's cut $123k–$281k before Steam's cut	$14.99	664 reviews Very Positive	SingleplayerPost-apocalyptic
INDUSTRIA 2021	Est. copies ≈ 108k–176k 2.7x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $595k–$1.6M after Steam's cut $1.1M–$2.5M before Steam's cut	$19.99	4k reviews Mostly Positive	FPSAction
PEPPERED: an existential platformer 2025	Est. copies ≈ 18k–29k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $73k–$197k after Steam's cut $133k–$304k before Steam's cut	$14.99	718 reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Story RichPixel Graphics