How much revenue did Chessformer make?

$11k–$30k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Chessformer sell?

Q: How many copies did Chessformer sell?

8k to 13k copies, based on its 323 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 8k–13k; $11k–$30k after Steam's cut $20k–$45k before Steam's cut; from 323 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 Chessformer and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Chessformer's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 7k–17k

best case 293k (5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel)

Games like Chessformer

A typical game among these

≈ 7k–17k copies

≈ $14k–$54k after Steam's cut

from ~231 reviews

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

1 of the 8 similar games is a hit.

Best case: 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel at ≈ 223k–362k copies, ≈ $735k–$2.0M 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 78 reviews in their first month; the range was 13 to 835.

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

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Chess (6 of 8) and Puzzle (4 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Chess + Time Travel, priced around $12. The breakout hits carry Time Manipulation + Time Travel + Board Game; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: None of the similar games shipped in the last two years; the newest is from 2023. That says more about which games were found than about the market.

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 38 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
Dark Chess 2023	Est. copies ≈ 5k–9k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $19k–$51k after Steam's cut $34k–$78k before Steam's cut	$12.99	213 reviews Mostly Positive	ChessStrategy
Unlock The King 2019	Est. copies ≈ 12k–19k 1.7x vs typical SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $3k–$9k after Steam's cut $6k–$13k before Steam's cut	$0.99	404 reviews Very Positive	FuturisticSokoban
Sudoku Zenkai / 数独全卡 2018	Est. copies ≈ 6k–11k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $7k–$19k after Steam's cut $13k–$29k before Steam's cut	$3.99	213 reviews Very Positive	LogicSolitaire
3D Math - Ultra 2020	Est. copies ≈ 6k–9k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $8k–$21k after Steam's cut $14k–$33k before Steam's cut	$4.99	231 reviews Very Positive	CasualIndie
GLADIABOTS - AI Combat Arena 2019	Est. copies ≈ 26k–43k 4.0x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $109k–$293k after Steam's cut $198k–$450k before Steam's cut	$14.99	917 reviews Very Positive	StrategyArtificial Intelligence
The Ouroboros King 2023	Est. copies ≈ 14k–23k 2.5x vs typical SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $39k–$106k after Steam's cut $72k–$163k before Steam's cut	$9.99	578 reviews Mostly Positive	Turn-Based Tactics Rogue-lite
Chessplosion 2021	Est. copies ≈ 4k–6k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $13k–$34k after Steam's cut $23k–$52k before Steam's cut	$11.99	154 reviews Very Positive	ArcadePixel Graphics
5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel 2020	Est. copies ≈ 223k–362k 39x vs typical SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $735k–$2.0M after Steam's cut $1.3M–$3.0M before Steam's cut	$11.99	9k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	ChessTime Travel