How much revenue did Absence of Light make?

$1k–$3k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Absence of Light sell?

Q: How many copies did Absence of Light sell?

471 to 766 copies, based on its 19 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 471–766; $1k–$3k after Steam's cut $2k–$5k before Steam's cut; from 19 reviews (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 Absence of Light and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Absence of Light's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 7k–27k

best case 25.6M (Hollow Knight)

Games like Absence of Light

A typical game among these

≈ 7k–27k copies

≈ $3k–$206k after Steam's cut

from ~495 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: Hollow Knight at ≈ 19.5M–31.6M copies, ≈ $80.3M–$215.8M 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 182 reviews in their first month; the range was 2 to 2k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Metroidvania (8 of 8) and Exploration (5 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Metroidvania + Souls-like, priced around $15. The breakout hits carry Souls-like + Great Soundtrack + Difficult; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: 4 of the 8 similar games shipped in the last two years, so this genre is actively shipping.

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

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The Mobius Machine 2024	Est. copies ≈ 12k–20k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $67k–$181k after Steam's cut $123k–$279k before Steam's cut	$19.99	495 reviews Very Positive	MetroidvaniaExploration
Hollow Knight 2017	Est. copies ≈ 19.5M–31.6M 1143x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $80.3M–$215.8M after Steam's cut $145.9M–$332.0M before Steam's cut	$14.99	566k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Metroidvania Souls-like
Minishoot' Adventures 2024	Est. copies ≈ 206k–335k 17x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $849k–$2.3M after Steam's cut $1.5M–$3.5M before Steam's cut	$14.99	8k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Twin Stick Shooter Bullet Hell
Hirai Nya 2025	Est. copies ≈ 769–1k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $844–$2k after Steam's cut $2k–$3k before Steam's cut	$3.99	31 reviews Positive	2D PlatformerCats
Aqua Boy 2021	Est. copies ≈ 347–564 SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $476–$1k after Steam's cut $866–$2k before Steam's cut	$4.99	14 reviews Positive	Metroidvania Twin Stick Shooter
The Knight Witch 2022	Est. copies ≈ 24k–39k 2.0x vs typical SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $132k–$356k after Steam's cut $240k–$547k before Steam's cut	$19.99	970 reviews Mostly Positive	MetroidvaniaFemale Protagonist
Zolg 2016	Est. copies ≈ 9k–15k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $3k–$7k after Steam's cut $5k–$11k before Steam's cut	$0.99	226 reviews Mostly Positive	MetroidvaniaTop-Down Shooter
BioGun 2024	Est. copies ≈ 17k–27k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $91k–$245k after Steam's cut $166k–$377k before Steam's cut	$19.99	668 reviews Very Positive	AdventureAtmospheric