How much revenue did Terraforming Mars make?

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

How many copies did Terraforming Mars sell?

Q: How many copies did Terraforming Mars sell?

221k to 358k copies, based on its 7k 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 7k 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 Terraforming Mars and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Terraforming Mars's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 3k–14k

best case 143k (Dune: Imperium)

Games like Terraforming Mars

A typical game among these

≈ 3k–14k copies

≈ $7k–$71k after Steam's cut

from ~93 reviews

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

1 of the 8 similar games is a hit.

Best case: Dune: Imperium at ≈ 109k–178k copies, ≈ $691k–$1.9M after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 32 reviews in their first month; the range was 17 to 1k.

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

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Board Game (7 of 8) and Sci-fi (5 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Board Game + Deckbuilding, priced around $23.
When they shipped: 4 of the 8 similar games shipped in the last two years, so this genre is actively shipping.

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 36 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
Nexus 5X 2024	Est. copies ≈ 24k–38k 10x vs typical SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $97k–$261k after Steam's cut $176k–$401k before Steam's cut	$14.99	949 reviews Very Positive	Board GameStrategy
Dune: Imperium 2024	Est. copies ≈ 109k–178k 47x vs typical SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $691k–$1.9M after Steam's cut $1.3M–$2.9M before Steam's cut	$22.99	4k reviews Very Positive	Board GameStrategy
One Deck Galaxy 2024	Est. copies ≈ 1k–2k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $5k–$14k after Steam's cut $9k–$21k before Steam's cut	$12.99	58 reviews Mostly Positive	Board GameCard Game
The Captain is Dead 2021	Est. copies ≈ 2k–3k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $11k–$30k after Steam's cut $21k–$47k before Steam's cut	$19.99	83 reviews Very Positive	StrategyBoard Game
Galaxy Trucker: Extended Edition 2019	Est. copies ≈ 7k–11k 2.6x vs typical SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $19k–$51k after Steam's cut $34k–$78k before Steam's cut	$9.99	239 reviews Very Positive	Board GameTabletop
HexON 2020	Est. copies ≈ 2k–3k SteamSpy 20k–50k	Est. revenue $560–$2k after Steam's cut $1k–$2k before Steam's cut	$0.99	83 reviews Mixed	PuzzleSpace
Hextones 2021	Est. copies ≈ 2k–3k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $540–$1k after Steam's cut $982–$2k before Steam's cut	$0.99	80 reviews Very Positive	PuzzleSolitaire
Eclipse - 2nd Dawn for the Galaxy 2024	Est. copies ≈ 3k–4k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $9k–$25k after Steam's cut $17k–$38k before Steam's cut	$12.99	103 reviews Mixed	CasualStrategy