How much revenue did Zen Chess: Mate in One make?

$4k–$10k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Zen Chess: Mate in One sell?

Q: How many copies did Zen Chess: Mate in One sell?

14k to 23k copies, based on its 465 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 14k–23k; $4k–$10k after Steam's cut $7k–$16k before Steam's cut; from 465 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 Zen Chess: Mate in One and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Zen Chess: Mate in One's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 5k–11k

best case 45k (KNIGHTS)

Games like Zen Chess: Mate in One

A typical game among these

≈ 5k–11k copies

≈ $3k–$18k after Steam's cut

from ~189 reviews

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

None of the 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: KNIGHTS at ≈ 34k–56k copies, ≈ $9k–$25k after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 37 reviews in their first month; the range was 21 to 53.

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

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Chess (7 of 8) and Puzzle (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Puzzle + Tabletop, priced around $1.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2016 to 2022, 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 52 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
KNIGHTS 2016	Est. copies ≈ 34k–56k 4.4x vs typical SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $9k–$25k after Steam's cut $17k–$39k before Steam's cut	$0.99	827 reviews Very Positive	PuzzleTabletop
Chessformer 2022	Est. copies ≈ 8k–13k 1.7x vs typical SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $11k–$30k after Steam's cut $20k–$45k before Steam's cut	$4.99	323 reviews Very Positive	ChessPuzzle
BOT.vinnik Chess: Combination Lessons 2020	Est. copies ≈ 3k–5k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $2k–$5k after Steam's cut $3k–$7k before Steam's cut	$1.99	128 reviews Very Positive	ChessSurvival Horror
Mind Games 2016	Est. copies ≈ 9k–15k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $12k–$33k after Steam's cut $22k–$51k before Steam's cut	$4.99	215 reviews Mixed	IndieTabletop
Chess Brain 2020	Est. copies ≈ 4k–7k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $1k–$3k after Steam's cut $2k–$5k before Steam's cut	$0.99	164 reviews Very Positive	SokobanChess
Zen Chess: Mate in Two 2019	Est. copies ≈ 4k–6k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $1k–$3k after Steam's cut $2k–$4k before Steam's cut	$0.99	129 reviews Very Positive	ChessMinimalist
Knight's Retreat 2020	Est. copies ≈ 2k–4k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $2k–$5k after Steam's cut $4k–$8k before Steam's cut	$2.99	99 reviews Very Positive	PuzzleChess
Sudoku Zenkai / 数独全卡 2018	Est. copies ≈ 6k–11k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $7k–$19k after Steam's cut $13k–$29k before Steam's cut	$3.99	213 reviews Very Positive	LogicSolitaire