How much revenue did Descenders make?

$4.8M–$12.8M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Descenders sell?

Q: How many copies did Descenders sell?

694k to 1.1M copies, based on its 24k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 694k–1.1M; $4.8M–$12.8M after Steam's cut $8.7M–$19.7M before Steam's cut; from 24k 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 Descenders and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Descenders's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 21k–37k

best case 1.1M (Riders Republic)

Games like Descenders

A typical game among these

≈ 21k–37k copies

≈ $278k–$341k after Steam's cut

from ~707 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: Riders Republic at ≈ 810k–1.3M copies, ≈ $8.9M–$24.0M 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 190 reviews in their first month; the range was 154 to 3k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Sports (8 of 8) and Simulation (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Racing + Open World, priced around $40. The breakout hits carry Open World + Massively Multiplayer + PvP; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2017 to 2023, 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 43 for the oldest, then widened into a range; revenue rides on that estimate times price. Source: GameDiscoverCo (2020) and VG Insights (2021).

Similar games

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Pro Cycling Manager 2022 2022	Est. copies ≈ 18k–28k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $193k–$518k after Steam's cut $351k–$798k before Steam's cut	$39.99	707 reviews Very Positive	SimulationMultiplayer
Pro Cycling Manager 2021 2021	Est. copies ≈ 16k–25k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $171k–$459k after Steam's cut $310k–$706k before Steam's cut	$39.99	626 reviews Mostly Positive	SimulationMultiplayer
Lonely Mountains: Downhill 2019	Est. copies ≈ 89k–145k 4.4x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $491k–$1.3M after Steam's cut $892k–$2.0M before Steam's cut	$19.99	3k reviews Very Positive	BikesDifficult
Pro Cycling Manager 2017 2017	Est. copies ≈ 16k–26k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $44k–$119k after Steam's cut $81k–$184k before Steam's cut	$9.99	470 reviews Mostly Positive	SportsSimulation
Riders Republic 2023	Est. copies ≈ 810k–1.3M 46x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $8.9M–$24.0M after Steam's cut $16.2M–$36.8M before Steam's cut	$39.99	33k reviews Very Positive	RacingOpen World
Pro Cycling Manager 2020 2020	Est. copies ≈ 24k–38k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $130k–$350k after Steam's cut $237k–$539k before Steam's cut	$19.99	955 reviews Very Positive	SimulationMultiplayer
Pro Cycling Manager 2023 2023	Est. copies ≈ 16k–26k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $175k–$471k after Steam's cut $318k–$724k before Steam's cut	$39.99	642 reviews Mostly Positive	SimulationSports
Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame 2018	Est. copies ≈ 32k–52k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $177k–$476k after Steam's cut $322k–$733k before Steam's cut	$19.99	1k reviews Very Positive	SportsSimulation