How much revenue did Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth make?

$1.4M–$3.9M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth sell?

Q: How many copies did Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth sell?

262k to 425k copies, based on its 8k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 262k–425k; $1.4M–$3.9M after Steam's cut $2.6M–$5.9M before Steam's cut; from 8k 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 Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.2M–1.6M

best case 5.0M (Disco Elysium - The Final Cut)

Games like Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth

A typical game among these

≈ 1.2M–1.6M copies

≈ $4.7M–$13.3M after Steam's cut

from ~38k 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: Disco Elysium - The Final Cut at ≈ 3.8M–6.2M copies, ≈ $41.7M–$112.0M 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 4k reviews in their first month; the range was 332 to 7k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Choices Matter (8 of 8) and Story Rich (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Story Rich + Choices Matter, priced around $40. The breakout hits carry Anime + Mature + RPG; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2014 to 2023, 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 70 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
The Coffin of Andy and Leyley 2023	Est. copies ≈ 982k–1.6M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $3.2M–$8.7M after Steam's cut $5.9M–$13.4M before Steam's cut	$11.99	40k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	PsychologicalDark Comedy
Everlasting Summer 2014	Est. copies ≈ 4.4M–7.1M 2.0x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue Free	Free	78k reviews Very Positive	Visual Novel Story Rich
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut 2019	Est. copies ≈ 3.8M–6.2M 3.4x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $41.7M–$112.0M after Steam's cut $75.8M–$172.3M before Steam's cut	$39.99	132k reviews Very Positive	RPGStory Rich
Life is Strange 2 2018	Est. copies ≈ 1.3M–2.0M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue Free	Free	41k reviews Very Positive	Choices MatterStory Rich
Slay the Princess — The Pristine Cut 2023	Est. copies ≈ 856k–1.4M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $4.2M–$11.4M after Steam's cut $7.7M–$17.5M before Steam's cut	$17.99	35k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Visual NovelChoices Matter
Emily is Away 2015	Est. copies ≈ 1.6M–2.6M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue Free	Free	32k reviews Very Positive	Free to PlayStory Rich
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series 2020	Est. copies ≈ 1.2M–1.9M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $16.2M–$43.5M after Steam's cut $29.4M–$66.9M before Steam's cut	$49.99	47k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Choices MatterStory Rich
LoveChoice 2021	Est. copies ≈ 910k–1.5M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $498k–$1.3M after Steam's cut $906k–$2.1M before Steam's cut	$1.99	37k reviews Very Positive	RomanceDating Sim