How much revenue did Space Engineers make?

$21.3M–$57.3M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Space Engineers sell?

Q: How many copies did Space Engineers sell?

3.9M to 6.3M copies, based on its 135k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 3.9M–6.3M; $21.3M–$57.3M after Steam's cut $38.7M–$88.1M before Steam's cut; from 135k 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 Space Engineers and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Space Engineers's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 4.7M–9.5M

best case 9.9M (RimWorld)

Games like Space Engineers

A typical game among these

≈ 4.7M–9.5M copies

≈ $35.0M–$137.0M 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: RimWorld at ≈ 7.6M–12.3M copies, ≈ $72.7M–$195.4M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Base-Building (5 of 8) and Building (5 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Colony Sim + Base-Building, priced around $35.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2015 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 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
Kerbal Space Program 2015	Est. copies ≈ 7.2M–11.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $79.0M–$212.3M after Steam's cut $143.6M–$326.6M before Steam's cut	$39.99	147k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SpaceSimulation
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
Starbound 2016	Est. copies ≈ 5.1M–8.3M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $21.1M–$56.9M after Steam's cut $38.4M–$87.5M before Steam's cut	$14.99	123k reviews Very Positive	Open World Survival CraftSandbox
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
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
The Planet Crafter 2024	Est. copies ≈ 1.9M–3.0M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $12.2M–$32.9M after Steam's cut $22.3M–$50.6M before Steam's cut	$23.99	75k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Open World Survival CraftBase-Building
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
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