How much revenue did How to Survive make?

$3.9M–$10.6M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did How to Survive sell?

Q: How many copies did How to Survive sell?

958k to 1.6M copies, based on its 17k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 958k–1.6M; $3.9M–$10.6M after Steam's cut $7.2M–$16.3M 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 How to Survive and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including How to Survive's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 3.4M–10.5M

best case 27.3M (The Forest)

Games like How to Survive

A typical game among these

≈ 3.4M–10.5M copies

≈ $31.9M–$141.2M after Steam's cut

from ~110k 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 Forest at ≈ 20.8M–33.7M copies, ≈ $114.2M–$306.9M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Open World (8 of 8) and Survival (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Open World Survival Craft + Survival, priced around $20.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2013 to 2025, 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
The Forest 2018	Est. copies ≈ 20.8M–33.7M 6.2x vs typical SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue $114.2M–$306.9M after Steam's cut $207.5M–$472.2M before Steam's cut	$19.99	683k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Open World Survival CraftSurvival
Project Zomboid 2013	Est. copies ≈ 30.5M–49.6M 4.4x vs typical SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $209.9M–$564.4M after Steam's cut $381.6M–$868.2M before Steam's cut	$24.99	483k reviews Very Positive	SurvivalZombies
Green Hell 2019	Est. copies ≈ 3.0M–4.8M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $20.4M–$54.8M after Steam's cut $37.0M–$84.3M before Steam's cut	$24.99	103k reviews Very Positive	Open World Survival CraftSurvival
SCUM 2025	Est. copies ≈ 3.2M–5.1M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $39.0M–$104.9M after Steam's cut $70.9M–$161.4M before Steam's cut	$44.99	127k reviews Mostly Positive	SurvivalOpen World Survival Craft
Days Gone 2021	Est. copies ≈ 2.9M–4.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $32.0M–$86.0M after Steam's cut $58.2M–$132.3M before Steam's cut	$39.99	117k reviews Very Positive	Open WorldZombies
Just Survive 2015	Est. copies ≈ 3.7M–6.1M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue Free	Free	77k reviews Mixed	ZombiesSurvival
Far Cry® Primal 2016	Est. copies ≈ 1.7M–2.8M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $14.2M–$38.2M after Steam's cut $25.9M–$58.8M before Steam's cut	$29.99	41k reviews Very Positive	Open WorldSurvival
Dead Island Definitive Edition 2016	Est. copies ≈ 1.2M–1.9M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $6.5M–$17.5M after Steam's cut $11.8M–$26.9M before Steam's cut	$19.99	28k reviews Very Positive	ZombiesOpen World