How much revenue did Kerbal Space Program make?

$79.0M–$212.3M 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?

7.2M to 11.7M copies, based on its 147k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 7.2M–11.7M; $79.0M–$212.3M after Steam's cut $143.6M–$326.6M before Steam's cut; from 147k reviews (Overwhelmingly 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 Kerbal Space Program and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Kerbal Space Program's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 5.2M–10.1M

best case 23.0M (No Man's Sky)

Games like Kerbal Space Program

A typical game among these

≈ 5.2M–10.1M copies

≈ $49.3M–$152.5M after Steam's cut

from ~142k 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: No Man's Sky at ≈ 17.5M–28.5M copies, ≈ $289.3M–$777.8M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share 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.
When they shipped: The similar games 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 $33.1M–$89.1M after Steam's cut $60.2M–$137.0M before Steam's cut	$29.99	139k reviews Very Positive	MultiplayerOpen World
Stellaris 2016	Est. copies ≈ 8.2M–13.3M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $112.6M–$302.6M after Steam's cut $204.7M–$465.6M before Steam's cut	$49.99	197k reviews Very Positive	SpaceGrand Strategy
Oxygen Not Included 2019	Est. copies ≈ 4.1M–6.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $28.5M–$76.7M after Steam's cut $51.9M–$118.0M before Steam's cut	$24.99	144k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Colony SimBase-Building
No Man's Sky 2016	Est. copies ≈ 17.5M–28.5M 3.0x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $289.3M–$777.8M after Steam's cut $526.0M–$1196.6M before Steam's cut	$59.99	422k 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–$33.7M after Steam's cut $22.8M–$51.9M before Steam's cut	$19.99	92k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AutomationSpace
Elite Dangerous 2015	Est. copies ≈ 5.3M–8.5M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $28.9M–$77.8M after Steam's cut $52.6M–$119.6M before Steam's cut	$19.99	108k reviews Mostly Positive	Space SimSpace
RimWorld 2018	Est. copies ≈ 7.6M–12.3M 1.8x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $72.7M–$195.4M after Steam's cut $132.2M–$300.7M before Steam's cut	$34.99	249k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Colony SimBase-Building
Space Engineers 2019	Est. copies ≈ 3.9M–6.3M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $21.3M–$57.3M after Steam's cut $38.7M–$88.1M before Steam's cut	$19.99	135k reviews Very Positive	SpaceSandbox