How much revenue did ABZU make?

$6.3M–$17.0M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did ABZU sell?

Q: How many copies did ABZU sell?

1.2M to 1.9M copies, based on its 28k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 1.2M–1.9M; $6.3M–$17.0M after Steam's cut $11.5M–$26.2M before Steam's cut; from 28k 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 ABZU and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including ABZU's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 57k–70k

best case 5.3M (DAVE THE DIVER)

Games like ABZU

A typical game among these

≈ 57k–70k copies

≈ $342k–$482k after Steam's cut

from ~2k 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.

These similar games lean toward the genre's biggest winners; the typical figure comes from its ordinary successes.

No genre covers most of these similar games. The closest is Simulation (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: DAVE THE DIVER at ≈ 4.0M–6.6M copies, ≈ $22.2M–$59.8M after Steam's cut. It is a breakout hit, far above a typical game.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 795 reviews in their first month; the range was 239 to 43k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Simulation (4 of 8) and Exploration (3 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Management + Exploration, priced around $20.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2006 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
DAVE THE DIVER 2023	Est. copies ≈ 4.0M–6.6M 82x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $22.2M–$59.8M after Steam's cut $40.4M–$91.9M before Steam's cut	$19.99	163k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Pixel GraphicsCasual
Loddlenaut 2023	Est. copies ≈ 157k–255k 3.2x vs typical SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $863k–$2.3M after Steam's cut $1.6M–$3.6M before Steam's cut	$19.99	6k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	UnderwaterRelaxing
Beyond Blue 2020	Est. copies ≈ 38k–61k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $207k–$558k after Steam's cut $377k–$858k before Steam's cut	$19.99	2k reviews Very Positive	UnderwaterAdventure
Insaniquarium Deluxe 2006	Est. copies ≈ 434k–705k 3.4x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $595k–$1.6M after Steam's cut $1.1M–$2.5M before Steam's cut	$4.99	7k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	CasualClassic
The Shore 2021	Est. copies ≈ 50k–81k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $163k–$439k after Steam's cut $297k–$676k before Steam's cut	$11.99	2k reviews Mostly Positive	LovecraftianHorror
FAR: Changing Tides 2022	Est. copies ≈ 142k–230k 2.9x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $778k–$2.1M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.2M before Steam's cut	$19.99	6k reviews Very Positive	AtmosphericAction-Adventure
Chillquarium 2023	Est. copies ≈ 209k–339k 4.2x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $344k–$925k after Steam's cut $626k–$1.4M before Steam's cut	$5.99	8k reviews Very Positive	Creature CollectorIdler
Ultimate Fishing® Simulator 2 2025	Est. copies ≈ 57k–93k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $315k–$847k after Steam's cut $573k–$1.3M before Steam's cut	$19.99	2k reviews Mixed	FishingSimulation