How much revenue did Paint Drying Simulator make?

$3k–$7k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Paint Drying Simulator sell?

Q: How many copies did Paint Drying Simulator sell?

10k to 16k copies, based on its 407 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 10k–16k; $3k–$7k after Steam's cut $5k–$11k before Steam's cut; from 407 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 Paint Drying Simulator and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Paint Drying Simulator's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 3k–50k

best case 158k (Chill Pulse)

Games like Paint Drying Simulator

A typical game among these

≈ 3k–50k copies

≈ $7k–$96k after Steam's cut

from ~308 reviews

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

2 of the 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: Chill Pulse at ≈ 120k–195k copies, ≈ $165k–$443k after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 74 reviews in their first month; the range was 18 to 930.

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

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Utilities (8 of 8) and Idler (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Utilities + Simulation, priced around $5.
When they shipped: 6 of the 8 similar games shipped in the last two years. You'd be launching into a busy stretch.

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 of about 31, 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
Cozy Space 2023	Est. copies ≈ 7k–12k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $16k–$42k after Steam's cut $29k–$65k before Steam's cut	$7.99	290 reviews Very Positive	CasualSimulation
The Legend of Pomodoro 2026	Est. copies ≈ 2k–4k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $5k–$12k after Steam's cut $8k–$19k before Steam's cut	$6.99	97 reviews Very Positive	CasualIdler
LurkBait Twitch Fishing 2024	Est. copies ≈ 16k–25k 2.0x vs typical SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $30k–$80k after Steam's cut $54k–$124k before Steam's cut	$7.00	627 reviews Very Positive	SimulationCreature Collector
Cozy Time 2022	Est. copies ≈ 8k–13k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $7k–$18k after Steam's cut $12k–$27k before Steam's cut	$2.99	326 reviews Very Positive	CasualSimulation
Hot Springs \| 温泉 (Onsen) 2024	Est. copies ≈ 1k–2k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $1k–$4k after Steam's cut $3k–$6k before Steam's cut	$3.99	55 reviews Mostly Positive	IdlerUtilities
Chill Pulse 2024	Est. copies ≈ 120k–195k 16x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $165k–$443k after Steam's cut $299k–$681k before Steam's cut	$4.99	5k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	CasualUtilities
Ropuka's Idle Island 2025	Est. copies ≈ 107k–174k 14x vs typical SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $118k–$316k after Steam's cut $214k–$486k before Steam's cut	$3.99	4k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	IdlerRelaxing
功德木鱼 2024	Est. copies ≈ 893–1k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $489–$1k after Steam's cut $889–$2k before Steam's cut	$1.99	36 reviews Positive	CasualSimulation