How much revenue did Kerbal Space Program make?

$78.6M–$211.3M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Kerbal Space Program sell?

Q: How many copies did Kerbal Space Program sell?

7.1M to 11.6M copies, based on its 146k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 7.1M–11.6M; $78.6M–$211.3M after Steam's cut $142.9M–$325.1M before the cut; from 146k reviews (Overwhelmingly Positive)

A labeled estimate from the public review count (adjusted for release year), not exact sales. Owner data cross-checked with SteamSpy.

Does this actually work?

We left Kerbal Space Program out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Kerbal Space Program's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 5.2M–10.1M

best case 22.7M (No Man's Sky)

Games like Kerbal Space Program

The middle of these games

≈ 5.2M–10.1M copies

≈ $49.1M–$151.5M after Steam's cut

from ~141k reviews

Only the top fifth of 2019’s Steam releases earned about $34k gross, so plan for that or less.

All 8 of your similar games are hits.

Best case: No Man's Sky at ≈ 17.3M–28.1M copies, ≈ $285.6M–$767.9M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Space (6 of 8) and Open World (5 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Open World + Open World Survival Craft, priced around $60.
The era: The games you compared span 2015 to 2021, and none of them 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 61 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
ASTRONEER 2019	Est. copies ≈ 4.0M–6.5M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $33.0M–$88.8M after Steam's cut $60.1M–$136.6M before the cut	$29.99	139k reviews Very Positive	MultiplayerOpen World
Stellaris 2016	Est. copies ≈ 8.2M–13.3M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $112.7M–$303.1M after Steam's cut $205.0M–$466.3M before the cut	$49.99	197k reviews Very Positive	SpaceGrand Strategy
Oxygen Not Included 2019	Est. copies ≈ 4.1M–6.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $28.4M–$76.4M after Steam's cut $51.7M–$117.5M before the cut	$24.99	144k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Colony SimBase-Building
No Man's Sky 2016	Est. copies ≈ 17.3M–28.1M 2.9x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $285.6M–$767.9M after Steam's cut $519.3M–$1181.5M before the cut	$59.99	416k reviews Very Positive	Open WorldOpen World Survival Craft
Dyson Sphere Program 2021	Est. copies ≈ 2.3M–3.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $12.5M–$33.6M after Steam's cut $22.7M–$51.7M before the cut	$19.99	92k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AutomationSpace
Elite Dangerous 2015	Est. copies ≈ 5.3M–8.5M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $28.9M–$77.6M after Steam's cut $52.5M–$119.4M before the cut	$19.99	108k reviews Mostly Positive	Space SimSpace
RimWorld 2018	Est. copies ≈ 7.5M–12.2M 1.7x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $72.0M–$193.5M after Steam's cut $130.8M–$297.7M before the cut	$34.99	246k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Colony SimBase-Building
Space Engineers 2019	Est. copies ≈ 3.9M–6.3M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $21.3M–$57.2M after Steam's cut $38.7M–$88.0M before the cut	$19.99	134k reviews Very Positive	SpaceSandbox