How much revenue did Mainlining make?

$45k–$122k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Mainlining sell?

Q: How many copies did Mainlining sell?

13k to 21k copies, based on its 368 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 13k–21k; $45k–$122k after Steam's cut $82k–$187k before Steam's cut; from 368 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 Mainlining and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Mainlining's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 92k–233k

best case 1.7M (Hacknet)

Games like Mainlining

A typical game among these

≈ 92k–233k copies

≈ $423k–$1.3M after Steam's cut

from ~3k 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: Hacknet at ≈ 1.3M–2.1M copies, ≈ $3.5M–$9.4M 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 Simulation (8 of 8) and Hacking (7 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Simulation + Hacking, priced around $10. The breakout hits carry Singleplayer + RPG + Mystery; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2015 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 61 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
NITE Team 4 - Military Hacking Division 2019	Est. copies ≈ 36k–59k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $200k–$537k after Steam's cut $363k–$826k before Steam's cut	$19.99	1k reviews Very Positive	HackingSimulation
TIS-100 2015	Est. copies ≈ 201k–326k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $386k–$1.0M after Steam's cut $702k–$1.6M before Steam's cut	$6.99	4k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	ProgrammingPuzzle
Cyber Manhunt 2021	Est. copies ≈ 390k–634k 4.7x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $1.1M–$2.9M after Steam's cut $1.9M–$4.4M before Steam's cut	$9.99	16k reviews Very Positive	SimulationRPG
SHENZHEN I/O 2016	Est. copies ≈ 189k–306k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $777k–$2.1M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.2M before Steam's cut	$14.99	5k reviews Very Positive	ProgrammingAutomation
Welcome to the Game 2016	Est. copies ≈ 108k–175k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $148k–$398k after Steam's cut $269k–$613k before Steam's cut	$4.99	3k reviews Very Positive	HorrorHacking
Turing Complete 2021	Est. copies ≈ 144k–233k 1.7x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $789k–$2.1M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.3M before Steam's cut	$19.99	6k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	ProgrammingLogic
Hacknet 2015	Est. copies ≈ 1.3M–2.1M 7.8x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $3.5M–$9.4M after Steam's cut $6.4M–$14.5M before Steam's cut	$9.99	26k reviews Very Positive	HackingSimulation
EXAPUNKS 2018	Est. copies ≈ 58k–94k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $318k–$854k after Steam's cut $577k–$1.3M before Steam's cut	$19.99	2k reviews Very Positive	ProgrammingPuzzle