How many copies did Life is Strange - Episode 1 sell?

8.6M to 14.0M copies, based on its 176k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

How much revenue did Life is Strange - Episode 1 make?

Life is Strange - Episode 1 is free to play, so there is no copy-sales revenue to estimate.

How big is Life is Strange - Episode 1?

Estimated players who have it: ≈ 8.6M–14.0M; from 176k reviews (Overwhelmingly 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 Life is Strange - Episode 1 and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Life is Strange - Episode 1's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 8.5M–12.9M

best case 38.8M (Portal 2)

Games like Life is Strange - Episode 1

A typical game among these

≈ 8.5M–12.9M copies

≈ $114.9M–$167.7M after Steam's cut

from ~206k 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.

No genre covers most of these similar games. The closest is Female Protagonist (4 of 8), so its genre is hard to place.

Of the 416 indie games that passed 1,000 reviews in 2022, 11.8% were novel genre mixes and 88.2% stuck to an established genre. Published indie market research.

Best case: Portal 2 at ≈ 29.5M–48.0M copies, ≈ $81.1M–$218.1M after Steam's cut. It is a breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Female Protagonist (4 of 8) and Story Rich (4 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Platformer + Puzzle, priced around $10. The breakout hits carry Platformer + Dark Humor + Funny; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2007 to 2020, 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
Portal 2 2011	Est. copies ≈ 29.5M–48.0M 2.3x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $81.1M–$218.1M after Steam's cut $147.5M–$335.6M before Steam's cut	$9.99	467k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Platformer Puzzle
Portal 2007	Est. copies ≈ 12.6M–20.5M SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $34.6M–$93.1M after Steam's cut $63.0M–$143.3M before Steam's cut	$9.99	199k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	PuzzlePuzzle-Platformer
Tomb Raider Game of the Year 2013	Est. copies ≈ 17.1M–27.8M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $94.0M–$252.8M after Steam's cut $171.0M–$388.9M before Steam's cut	$19.99	271k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AdventureAction
Resident Evil 2 2019	Est. copies ≈ 6.5M–10.5M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $70.9M–$190.7M after Steam's cut $129.0M–$293.4M before Steam's cut	$39.99	224k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	ZombiesSurvival Horror
Detroit: Become Human 2020	Est. copies ≈ 6.6M–10.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $72.1M–$193.9M after Steam's cut $131.1M–$298.3M before Steam's cut	$39.99	264k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Choices MatterStory Rich
Rise of the Tomb Raider™ 2016	Est. copies ≈ 6.5M–10.6M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $53.7M–$144.2M after Steam's cut $97.5M–$221.9M before Steam's cut	$29.99	156k reviews Very Positive	AdventureAction
Assassin's Creed® Odyssey 2018	Est. copies ≈ 5.7M–9.3M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $94.8M–$254.9M after Steam's cut $172.4M–$392.1M before Steam's cut	$59.99	189k reviews Very Positive	Open WorldRPG
Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition 2017	Est. copies ≈ 7.1M–11.5M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $87.8M–$236.1M after Steam's cut $159.6M–$363.2M before Steam's cut	$44.99	206k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Tactical RPGRPG