How much revenue did Causal Effect make?

$28–$73 after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Causal Effect sell?

Q: How many copies did Causal Effect sell?

25 to 40 copies, based on its 1 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 25–40; $28–$73 after Steam's cut $50–$112 before Steam's cut; from 1 review (1 user reviews); Only 1 review so far, so that range swings on one or two people. Read it as a hint, not a measurement.

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 Causal Effect and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Causal Effect's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 198k–337k

best case 359k (The Case of the Golden Idol)

Games like Causal Effect

A typical game among these

≈ 198k–337k copies

≈ $894k–$2.0M after Steam's cut

from ~8k 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: The Case of the Golden Idol at ≈ 273k–444k copies, ≈ $1.4M–$3.6M after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 2k reviews in their first month; the range was 953 to 3k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Mystery (7 of 8) and Puzzle (7 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Mystery + Detective, priced around $18.
When they shipped: 5 of the 8 similar games shipped in the last two years. You'd be launching into a busy stretch.

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
The Case of the Golden Idol 2022	Est. copies ≈ 273k–444k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $1.4M–$3.6M after Steam's cut $2.5M–$5.6M before Steam's cut	$17.99	11k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	MysteryDetective
The Rise of the Golden Idol 2024	Est. copies ≈ 103k–167k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $567k–$1.5M after Steam's cut $1.0M–$2.3M before Steam's cut	$19.99	4k reviews Very Positive	MysteryInvestigation
Duck Detective: The Secret Salami 2024	Est. copies ≈ 167k–271k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $458k–$1.2M after Steam's cut $832k–$1.9M before Steam's cut	$9.99	7k reviews Very Positive	DetectiveInvestigation
No Case Should Remain Unsolved 2024	Est. copies ≈ 266k–433k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $512k–$1.4M after Steam's cut $930k–$2.1M before Steam's cut	$6.99	11k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Interactive FictionPuzzle
The Operator 2024	Est. copies ≈ 220k–358k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $848k–$2.3M after Steam's cut $1.5M–$3.5M before Steam's cut	$13.99	9k reviews Very Positive	DetectiveInvestigation
The Roottrees are Dead 2025	Est. copies ≈ 253k–411k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $1.4M–$3.7M after Steam's cut $2.5M–$5.8M before Steam's cut	$19.99	10k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	MysteryPuzzle
Puzzle Agent 2010	Est. copies ≈ 180k–292k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $247k–$663k after Steam's cut $448k–$1.0M before Steam's cut	$4.99	3k reviews Very Positive	PuzzleAdventure
A Normal Lost Phone 2017	Est. copies ≈ 102k–165k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue Free	Free	3k reviews Very Positive	IndieLGBTQ+