How much revenue did The Painscreek Killings make?

$1.2M–$3.3M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did The Painscreek Killings sell?

Q: How many copies did The Painscreek Killings sell?

221k to 358k copies, based on its 6k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 221k–358k; $1.2M–$3.3M after Steam's cut $2.2M–$5.0M before Steam's cut; from 6k 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 The Painscreek Killings and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including The Painscreek Killings's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 674k–1.2M

best case 27.4M (Phasmophobia)

Games like The Painscreek Killings

A typical game among these

≈ 674k–1.2M copies

≈ $3.0M–$7.0M after Steam's cut

from ~24k 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: Phasmophobia at ≈ 20.9M–33.9M copies, ≈ $114.8M–$308.5M 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 9k reviews in their first month; the range was 946 to 40k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Story Rich (5 of 8) and Detective (4 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Horror + Psychological Horror, priced around $20. The breakout hits carry Supernatural + VR + Online Co-Op; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2011 to 2024, 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
Demonologist 2023	Est. copies ≈ 602k–978k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $3.3M–$8.9M after Steam's cut $6.0M–$13.7M before Steam's cut	$19.99	24k reviews Very Positive	HorrorMultiplayer
Phasmophobia 2020	Est. copies ≈ 20.9M–33.9M 35x vs typical SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $114.8M–$308.5M after Steam's cut $208.6M–$474.7M before Steam's cut	$19.99	842k reviews Very Positive	HorrorOnline Co-Op
The Test 2020	Est. copies ≈ 499k–810k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $273k–$734k after Steam's cut $496k–$1.1M before Steam's cut	$1.99	20k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Choose Your Own AdventureSimulation
Unheard - Voices of Crime 2019	Est. copies ≈ 981k–1.6M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $1.9M–$5.1M after Steam's cut $3.4M–$7.8M before Steam's cut	$6.99	34k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	DetectivePuzzle
Sanfu 2023	Est. copies ≈ 443k–720k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $1.3M–$3.6M after Steam's cut $2.4M–$5.5M before Steam's cut	$10.99	18k reviews Very Positive	MysteryRPG
Heavy Rain 2020	Est. copies ≈ 788k–1.3M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $4.3M–$11.7M after Steam's cut $7.9M–$17.9M before Steam's cut	$19.99	32k reviews Very Positive	Choices MatterStory Rich
L.A. Noire 2011	Est. copies ≈ 2.3M–3.8M 1.5x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $12.8M–$34.5M after Steam's cut $23.4M–$53.1M before Steam's cut	$19.99	37k reviews Very Positive	DetectiveCrime
Murders on the Yangtze River 2024	Est. copies ≈ 528k–858k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $2.2M–$5.9M after Steam's cut $4.0M–$9.0M before Steam's cut	$14.99	21k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	DetectiveAdventure