How much revenue did The Fabulous Fear Machine make?

$71k–$192k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did The Fabulous Fear Machine sell?

Q: How many copies did The Fabulous Fear Machine sell?

14k to 23k copies, based on its 582 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 14k–23k; $71k–$192k after Steam's cut $130k–$295k before Steam's cut; from 582 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 The Fabulous Fear Machine and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including The Fabulous Fear Machine's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 4k–5k

best case 3.6M (Plague Inc: Evolved)

Games like The Fabulous Fear Machine

A typical game among these

≈ 4k–5k copies

≈ $17k–$33k after Steam's cut

from ~109 reviews

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

3 of the 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: Plague Inc: Evolved at ≈ 2.7M–4.5M copies, ≈ $11.3M–$30.4M 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 68 reviews in their first month; the range was 43 to 573.

Games with under about 100 reviews in month one almost never recover.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Simulation (6 of 8) and Outbreak Sim (5 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Simulation + Outbreak Sim, priced around $15. The breakout hits carry Strategy + Outbreak Sim; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2016 to 2024, and 1 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
Plague Inc: Evolved 2016	Est. copies ≈ 2.7M–4.5M 605x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $11.3M–$30.4M after Steam's cut $20.6M–$46.8M before Steam's cut	$14.99	66k reviews Very Positive	StrategySimulation
Pestis 2018	Est. copies ≈ 3k–5k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $23k–$61k after Steam's cut $41k–$94k before Steam's cut	$24.99	109 reviews Mostly Positive	HorrorEducation
Bio Inc. Redemption 2018	Est. copies ≈ 99k–161k 30x vs typical SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $353k–$950k after Steam's cut $642k–$1.5M before Steam's cut	$12.99	3k reviews Very Positive	Medical SimOutbreak Sim
Shadows of Forbidden Gods 2023	Est. copies ≈ 27k–43k 9.8x vs typical SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $146k–$393k after Steam's cut $265k–$604k before Steam's cut	$19.99	1k reviews Very Positive	StrategySimulation
Z-Collapse 2022	Est. copies ≈ 2k–4k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $9k–$23k after Steam's cut $16k–$36k before Steam's cut	$12.99	98 reviews Mostly Positive	SimulationStrategy
The Backrooms Project 2022	Est. copies ≈ 4k–6k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $10k–$26k after Steam's cut $18k–$40k before Steam's cut	$9.99	142 reviews Mixed	Early AccessHorror
Playtown 2023	Est. copies ≈ 3k–4k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue Free	Free	108 reviews Mostly Positive	AdventureAction
Baby Blues Nightmares - Toddler Horror Game 2024	Est. copies ≈ 5k–8k 1.7x vs typical SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $17k–$45k after Steam's cut $30k–$69k before Steam's cut	$12.99	187 reviews Very Positive	HorrorAdventure