How much revenue did SUNLESS SEA make?

$2.4M–$6.6M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did SUNLESS SEA sell?

Q: How many copies did SUNLESS SEA sell?

467k to 759k copies, based on its 10k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 467k–759k; $2.4M–$6.6M after Steam's cut $4.4M–$10.1M before Steam's cut; from 10k 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 SUNLESS SEA and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including SUNLESS SEA's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 134k–1.6M

best case 3.4M (SOMA)

Games like SUNLESS SEA

A typical game among these

≈ 134k–1.6M copies

≈ $1.3M–$15.8M 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: SOMA at ≈ 2.6M–4.2M copies, ≈ $21.4M–$57.4M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Exploration (6 of 8) and Horror (4 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Horror + Psychological Horror, priced around $30.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2010 to 2021, 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 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
Curious Expedition 2016	Est. copies ≈ 188k–305k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $774k–$2.1M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.2M before Steam's cut	$14.99	5k reviews Very Positive	ExplorationRogue-like
Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition 2019	Est. copies ≈ 100k–163k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $689k–$1.9M after Steam's cut $1.3M–$2.9M before Steam's cut	$24.99	3k reviews Very Positive	SteampunkLovecraftian
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs 2013	Est. copies ≈ 770k–1.3M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $4.2M–$11.4M after Steam's cut $7.7M–$17.5M before Steam's cut	$19.99	12k reviews Mixed	Horror Walking Simulator
SOMA 2015	Est. copies ≈ 2.6M–4.2M 6.4x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $21.4M–$57.4M after Steam's cut $38.8M–$88.3M before Steam's cut	$29.99	53k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Horror Psychological Horror
Amnesia: The Dark Descent 2010	Est. copies ≈ 2.3M–3.7M 4.3x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $12.4M–$33.4M after Steam's cut $22.6M–$51.4M before Steam's cut	$19.99	36k reviews Very Positive	HorrorGore
Curious Expedition 2 2021	Est. copies ≈ 103k–167k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $566k–$1.5M after Steam's cut $1.0M–$2.3M before Steam's cut	$19.99	4k reviews Very Positive	AdventureSimulation
Darkwood 2017	Est. copies ≈ 861k–1.4M 3.0x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $4.7M–$12.7M after Steam's cut $8.6M–$19.6M before Steam's cut	$19.99	25k reviews Very Positive	Horror Survival Horror
Swallow the Sea 2021	Est. copies ≈ 61k–99k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue Free	Free	2k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	ActionFree to Play