How much revenue did NBA 2K23 make?

NBA 2K23 is free to play, so there is no copy-sales revenue to estimate.

How many copies did NBA 2K23 sell?

Q: How many copies did NBA 2K23 sell?

1.3M to 2.1M copies, based on its 51k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 1.3M–2.1M; from 51k reviews (Mixed)

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 NBA 2K23 and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including NBA 2K23's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 114–4k

best case 1.4M (NBA 2K25)

Games like NBA 2K23

A typical game among these

≈ 114–4k copies

≈ $361–$23k after Steam's cut

from ~5 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: NBA 2K25 at ≈ 1.1M–1.7M copies, ≈ $20.5M–$55.1M after Steam's cut. It is a breakout hit, far above a typical game.

What their first month looked like

The games that made it here had under 7k reviews in their first month.

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

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Basketball (8 of 8) and Sports (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Sports + Basketball, priced around $70. The breakout hits carry Controller + PvP + 3D; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: Only 3 of the 8 similar games shipped in the last two years. 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 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
Pickup Basketball VR 2021	Est. copies ≈ 2k–3k 15x vs typical SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $5k–$14k after Steam's cut $10k–$22k before Steam's cut	$9.99	77 reviews Mostly Positive	SportsVR
Pro Basketball Manager 2025 2024	Est. copies ≈ 4k–7k 36x vs typical SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $30k–$82k after Steam's cut $55k–$125k before Steam's cut	$24.99	178 reviews Mixed	SportsStrategy
Urban Basketball 2020	Est. copies ≈ 25–40 SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue Free	Free	1 reviews 1 user reviews	SportsVR
International Basketball Manager 22 2021	Est. copies ≈ 5k–9k 44x vs typical SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $15k–$40k after Steam's cut $27k–$62k before Steam's cut	$9.99	221 reviews Very Positive	SportsSimulation
Can Gym Break This? 2022	Est. copies ≈ 99–161 SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $272–$732 after Steam's cut $495–$1k before Steam's cut	$9.99	4 reviews 4 user reviews	SportsArcade
Basketball 2.0 2024	Est. copies ≈ 74–121 SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $41–$110 after Steam's cut $74–$169 before Steam's cut	$1.99	3 reviews 3 user reviews	SimulationSports
NBA 2K25 2024	Est. copies ≈ 1.1M–1.7M 8589x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $20.5M–$55.1M after Steam's cut $37.3M–$84.8M before Steam's cut	$69.99	43k reviews Mixed	SportsBasketball
Rezzil Player 2022	Est. copies ≈ 124–202 SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $170–$459 after Steam's cut $309–$706 before Steam's cut	$4.99	5 reviews 5 user reviews	SimulationSports