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How many copies did I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine sell?

Estimated copies sold
≈ 16k–26k
$110k–$295k after Steam's cut $200k–$454k before Steam's cut
from 644 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 I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 915k–1.3M
best case 1.3M (Car Mechanic Simulator 2021)
Games like I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine

A typical game among these

≈ 915k–1.3M copies

≈ $5.2M–$11.0M after Steam's cut

from ~19k 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.

No genre covers most of these similar games. The closest is Sandbox (4 of 8), so its genre is hard to place.

Of the 416 indie games that passed 1,000 reviews in 2022, 11.8% were novel genre mixes and 88.2% stuck to an established genre. Published indie market research.

Best case: Car Mechanic Simulator 2021 at ≈ 963k–1.6M copies, ≈ $6.6M–$17.8M after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like
About half the games that made it here had over 6k reviews in their first month; the range was 724 to 13k.
The genre you'd be entering
These games
The similar games share Sandbox (4 of 8) and Simulation (4 of 8).
The winners
Winners here lead with Simulation + Automobile Sim, priced around $25.
When they shipped
The similar games span 2013 to 2022, 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 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

Mountain
2014
Est. copies
≈ 912k–1.5M
SteamSpy 500k–1M
Est. revenue
$248k–$668k after Steam's cut $452k–$1.0M before Steam's cut
$0.99
16k reviews
Very Positive
SimulationIndie
The Lab
2016
Est. copies
≈ 278k–452k
too small to compare
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
Free
Free
7k reviews
Very Positive
Free to PlayVR
Surgeon Simulator
2013
Est. copies
≈ 1.1M–1.7M
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$2.9M–$7.9M after Steam's cut $5.3M–$12.2M before Steam's cut
$9.99
17k reviews
Very Positive
SimulationFunny
Escape Simulator
2021
Est. copies
≈ 482k–783k
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$2.6M–$7.1M after Steam's cut $4.8M–$11.0M before Steam's cut
$19.99
19k reviews
Very Positive
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
2015
Est. copies
≈ 838k–1.4M
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$3.5M–$9.3M after Steam's cut $6.3M–$14.3M before Steam's cut
$14.99
17k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
Co-opLocal Multiplayer
Hardspace: Shipbreaker
2022
Est. copies
≈ 557k–905k
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$5.4M–$14.4M after Steam's cut $9.7M–$22.2M before Steam's cut
$34.99
22k reviews
Very Positive
SpaceSci-fi
Car Mechanic Simulator 2021
2021
Est. copies
≈ 963k–1.6M
2.0x vs typical
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$6.6M–$17.8M after Steam's cut $12.0M–$27.4M before Steam's cut
$24.99
39k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
SimulationAutomobile Sim
BONEWORKS
2019
Est. copies
≈ 1.1M–1.7M
1.9x vs typical
SteamSpy 1M–2M
Est. revenue
$8.7M–$23.3M after Steam's cut $15.8M–$35.8M before Steam's cut
$29.99
36k reviews
Very Positive
VRPhysics

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