How much revenue did Spec Ops: The Line make?

Spec Ops: The Line is free to play, so there is no copy-sales revenue to estimate.

How many copies did Spec Ops: The Line sell?

Q: How many copies did Spec Ops: The Line sell?

3.6M to 5.8M copies, based on its 56k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 3.6M–5.8M; from 56k 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 Spec Ops: The Line and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Spec Ops: The Line's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 6.9M–22.4M

best case 34.9M (Red Dead Redemption 2)

Games like Spec Ops: The Line

A typical game among these

≈ 6.9M–22.4M copies

≈ $53.6M–$173.4M after Steam's cut

from ~271k reviews

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

5 of the 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: Red Dead Redemption 2 at ≈ 26.6M–43.2M copies, ≈ $438.4M–$1178.6M after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 42 reviews in their first month; the range was 3 to 68k.

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

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Story Rich (7 of 8) and Third-Person Shooter (4 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Open World + Story Rich, priced around $60.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2013 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
Inscryption 2021	Est. copies ≈ 3.7M–6.0M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $20.3M–$54.6M after Steam's cut $36.9M–$84.0M before Steam's cut	$19.99	149k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Card BattlerCard Game
Red Dead Redemption 2 2019	Est. copies ≈ 26.6M–43.2M 3.4x vs typical SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $438.4M–$1178.6M after Steam's cut $797.0M–$1813.3M before Steam's cut	$59.99	923k reviews Very Positive	Open WorldStory Rich
Second Sight 2021	Est. copies ≈ 8k–13k too small to compare SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $22k–$60k after Steam's cut $41k–$92k before Steam's cut	$9.99	327 reviews Very Positive	ActionThird-Person Shooter
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 4 2023	Est. copies ≈ 7.0M–11.3M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $76.4M–$205.5M after Steam's cut $139.0M–$316.2M before Steam's cut	$39.99	280k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	HorrorAction
Tales of The Nightmares™ Episode One 2025	Est. copies ≈ 2k too small to compare SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $2k–$5k after Steam's cut $3k–$8k before Steam's cut	$4.50	61 reviews Very Positive	Dark FantasyAdventure
METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN 2015	Est. copies ≈ 5.3M–8.6M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $29.1M–$78.2M after Steam's cut $52.9M–$120.3M before Steam's cut	$19.99	108k reviews Very Positive	StealthOpen World
Daemonum 2022	Est. copies ≈ 223–363 too small to compare SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $306–$824 after Steam's cut $556–$1k before Steam's cut	$4.99	9 reviews 9 user reviews	ActionFPS