How much revenue did Starbound make?

$21.1M–$56.9M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Starbound sell?

Q: How many copies did Starbound sell?

5.1M to 8.3M copies, based on its 123k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 5.1M–8.3M; $21.1M–$56.9M after Steam's cut $38.4M–$87.5M before Steam's cut; from 123k 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 Starbound and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Starbound's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 25.9M–31.3M

best case 129.3M (Terraria)

Games like Starbound

A typical game among these

≈ 25.9M–31.3M copies

≈ $203.6M–$211.9M after Steam's cut

from ~563k reviews

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

All 8 of the similar games are hits.

Best case: Terraria at ≈ 98.5M–160.1M copies, ≈ $270.6M–$727.5M after Steam's cut. It is a breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Survival (8 of 8) and Crafting (7 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Survival + Crafting, priced around $25. The breakout hits carry Sandbox + PvP + 2D; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2011 to 2026, 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 79 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
Unturned 2017	Est. copies ≈ 19.4M–31.6M SteamSpy 50M–100M	Est. revenue Free	Free	565k reviews Very Positive	Free to PlaySurvival
ARK: Survival Evolved 2017	Est. copies ≈ 26.8M–43.5M SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $110.4M–$296.8M after Steam's cut $200.7M–$456.6M before Steam's cut	$14.99	779k reviews Very Positive	Open World Survival CraftSurvival
Valheim 2026	Est. copies ≈ 13.9M–22.6M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $114.9M–$308.9M after Steam's cut $208.9M–$475.2M before Steam's cut	$29.99	562k reviews Very Positive	Open World Survival CraftSurvival
Dying Light 2015	Est. copies ≈ 24.2M–39.3M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $166.4M–$447.4M after Steam's cut $302.5M–$688.3M before Steam's cut	$24.99	496k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	ZombiesSurvival Horror
Rust 2018	Est. copies ≈ 42.7M–69.3M 2.5x vs typical SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $469.3M–$1261.8M after Steam's cut $853.3M–$1941.3M before Steam's cut	$39.99	1.4M reviews Very Positive	SurvivalCrafting
Don't Starve Together 2016	Est. copies ≈ 22.6M–36.8M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $93.2M–$250.7M after Steam's cut $169.5M–$385.7M before Steam's cut	$14.99	544k reviews Very Positive	SurvivalOpen World Survival Craft
The Forest 2018	Est. copies ≈ 20.8M–33.7M SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $114.2M–$306.9M after Steam's cut $207.5M–$472.2M before Steam's cut	$19.99	683k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Open World Survival CraftSurvival
Terraria 2011	Est. copies ≈ 98.5M–160.1M 2.8x vs typical SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $270.6M–$727.5M after Steam's cut $492.0M–$1119.3M before Steam's cut	$9.99	1.6M reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Open World Survival CraftSandbox