How much revenue did Californium make?

$33k–$89k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Californium sell?

Q: How many copies did Californium sell?

17k to 28k copies, based on its 412 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 17k–28k; $33k–$89k after Steam's cut $60k–$136k before Steam's cut; from 412 reviews (Mostly 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 Californium and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Californium's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1k–2k

best case 149k (KARMA: The Dark World)

Games like Californium

A typical game among these

≈ 1k–2k copies

≈ $2k–$4k after Steam's cut

from ~48 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: KARMA: The Dark World at ≈ 113k–184k copies, ≈ $779k–$2.1M 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 51 reviews in their first month; the range was 4 to 2k.

Games with under about 100 reviews in month one almost never recover.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Sci-fi (5 of 8) and Experimental (4 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with First-Person, priced around $15. The breakout hits carry First-Person; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2019 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 36 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
KARMA: The Dark World 2025	Est. copies ≈ 113k–184k 95x vs typical SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $779k–$2.1M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.2M before Steam's cut	$24.99	5k reviews Very Positive	Walking Simulator Psychological Horror
Welcome to Emba 2020	Est. copies ≈ 1k–2k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue Free	Free	48 reviews Positive	AdventureSci-fi
Synthesis Universe -Episode 00- 2019	Est. copies ≈ 979–2k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $3k–$7k after Steam's cut $5k–$11k before Steam's cut	$9.99	34 reviews Positive	VRMusic
Umurangi Generation 2020	Est. copies ≈ 30k–49k 25x vs typical SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $125k–$336k after Steam's cut $227k–$517k before Steam's cut	$14.99	1k reviews Very Positive	IndieCasual
INTERPOINT 2019	Est. copies ≈ 1k–2k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue Free	Free	51 reviews Mostly Positive	HorrorAdventure
Hyperbolica 2022	Est. copies ≈ 33k–53k 28x vs typical SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $117k–$315k after Steam's cut $213k–$485k before Steam's cut	$12.99	1k reviews Very Positive	SurrealExploration
Neon Cyborg Cat Club 2020	Est. copies ≈ 744–1k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $612–$2k after Steam's cut $1k–$3k before Steam's cut	$2.99	30 reviews Positive	AtmosphericExperimental
2020: THE RIDE 2021	Est. copies ≈ 2k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue Free	Free	62 reviews Mixed	VRCyberpunk