How much revenue did Spelunky make?

$4.3M–$11.7M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Spelunky sell?

Q: How many copies did Spelunky sell?

1.1M to 1.7M copies, based on its 17k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 1.1M–1.7M; $4.3M–$11.7M after Steam's cut $7.9M–$18.0M before Steam's cut; from 17k 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 Spelunky and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Spelunky's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 510k–2.0M

best case 7.3M (Dead Cells)

Games like Spelunky

A typical game among these

≈ 510k–2.0M copies

≈ $1.5M–$10.8M after Steam's cut

from ~21k 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: Dead Cells at ≈ 5.6M–9.1M copies, ≈ $38.4M–$103.2M after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 5k reviews in their first month; the range was 3k to 15k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Action Roguelike (7 of 8) and Rogue-like (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Action Roguelike + Metroidvania, priced around $25.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2013 to 2024, 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
Dungreed 2018	Est. copies ≈ 292k–474k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $802k–$2.2M after Steam's cut $1.5M–$3.3M before Steam's cut	$9.99	10k reviews Very Positive	Action RoguelikePixel Graphics
Skul: The Hero Slayer 2021	Est. copies ≈ 1.4M–2.3M 2.7x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $7.9M–$21.2M after Steam's cut $14.3M–$32.6M before Steam's cut	$19.99	58k reviews Very Positive	IndieAction
Rogue Legacy 2013	Est. copies ≈ 1.2M–1.9M SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $4.9M–$13.2M after Steam's cut $8.9M–$20.3M before Steam's cut	$14.99	19k reviews Very Positive	RoguevaniaPlatformer
Risk of Rain (2013) 2013	Est. copies ≈ 1.9M–3.1M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $5.2M–$13.9M after Steam's cut $9.4M–$21.4M before Steam's cut	$9.99	30k reviews Very Positive	Action RoguelikeRogue-like
Dead Cells 2018	Est. copies ≈ 5.6M–9.1M 8.6x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $38.4M–$103.2M after Steam's cut $69.8M–$158.8M before Steam's cut	$24.99	184k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AdventureAction Roguelike
Downwell 2015	Est. copies ≈ 421k–685k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $346k–$931k after Steam's cut $630k–$1.4M before Steam's cut	$2.99	9k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Precision PlatformerAction Roguelike
Neon Abyss 2020	Est. copies ≈ 586k–952k SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $5.1M–$13.6M after Steam's cut $9.2M–$21.0M before Steam's cut	$31.49	24k reviews Very Positive	Rogue-like Platformer
Anomaly Agent 2024	Est. copies ≈ 249k–404k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $820k–$2.2M after Steam's cut $1.5M–$3.4M before Steam's cut	$11.99	10k reviews Very Positive	Action Roguelike2D Platformer