How much revenue did Drone Swarm make?

$40k–$107k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Drone Swarm sell?

Q: How many copies did Drone Swarm sell?

9k to 14k copies, based on its 344 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 9k–14k; $40k–$107k after Steam's cut $72k–$165k before Steam's cut; from 344 reviews (Mixed)

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

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 15k–19k

best case 616k (Aliens: Dark Descent)

Games like Drone Swarm

A typical game among these

≈ 15k–19k copies

≈ $84k–$117k after Steam's cut

from ~464 reviews

Only the top fifth of 2019's Steam releases earned $34k or more before Steam's cut, so plan for that or less.

3 of the 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: Aliens: Dark Descent at ≈ 469k–763k copies, ≈ $5.2M–$13.9M 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 466 reviews in their first month; the range was 276 to 8k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Sci-fi (7 of 8) and RTS (5 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Sci-fi, priced around $35. The breakout hits carry Tactical; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2008 to 2026, and 2 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
Space Reign 2026	Est. copies ≈ 11k–19k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $63k–$169k after Steam's cut $115k–$261k before Steam's cut	$19.99	462 reviews Mostly Positive	Early AccessSpace Sim
Final Upgrade 2022	Est. copies ≈ 12k–19k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $63k–$170k after Steam's cut $115k–$262k before Steam's cut	$19.99	464 reviews Mostly Positive	AutomationSpace
Star Command Galaxies 2024	Est. copies ≈ 13k–21k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $46k–$123k after Steam's cut $83k–$189k before Steam's cut	$12.99	517 reviews Mixed	RTSIsometric
Dune: Spice Wars 2023	Est. copies ≈ 337k–548k 29x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $3.2M–$8.7M after Steam's cut $5.9M–$13.4M before Steam's cut	$34.99	14k reviews Mostly Positive	ManagementSingleplayer
Aliens: Dark Descent 2023	Est. copies ≈ 469k–763k 41x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $5.2M–$13.9M after Steam's cut $9.4M–$21.4M before Steam's cut	$39.99	19k reviews Very Positive	StrategyAction
Multiwinia 2008	Est. copies ≈ 38k–62k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $125k–$337k after Steam's cut $228k–$519k before Steam's cut	$11.99	602 reviews Very Positive	RTSStrategy
Swarm Queen 2017	Est. copies ≈ 14k–23k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $29k–$78k after Steam's cut $53k–$121k before Steam's cut	$7.49	412 reviews Very Positive	StrategyRTS
Showgunners 2023	Est. copies ≈ 49k–80k 4.3x vs typical SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $404k–$1.1M after Steam's cut $735k–$1.7M before Steam's cut	$29.99	2k reviews Very Positive	Turn-Based TacticsTurn-Based Combat