How much revenue did Sam & Max 101: Culture Shock make?

Sam & Max 101: Culture Shock is free to play, so there is no copy-sales revenue to estimate.

How many copies did Sam & Max 101: Culture Shock sell?

Q: How many copies did Sam & Max 101: Culture Shock sell?

32k to 52k copies, based on its 509 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 32k–52k; from 509 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 Sam & Max 101: Culture Shock and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Sam & Max 101: Culture Shock's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.3M–1.4M

best case 1.7M (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy)

Games like Sam & Max 101: Culture Shock

A typical game among these

≈ 1.3M–1.4M copies

≈ $6.2M–$7.9M after Steam's cut

from ~16k 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.

No genre covers most of these similar games. The closest is Cult Classic (4 of 8), so its genre is hard to place.

Of the 416 indie games that passed 1,000 reviews in 2022, 11.8% were novel genre mixes and 88.2% stuck to an established genre. Published indie market research.

Best case: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy at ≈ 1.3M–2.1M copies, ≈ $10.8M–$28.9M 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 5k reviews in their first month; the range was 5k to 9k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Cult Classic (4 of 8) and Story Rich (3 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Detective + Visual Novel, priced around $45.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2002 to 2021, 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 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
Psychonauts 2006	Est. copies ≈ 1.2M–2.0M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $3.4M–$9.0M after Steam's cut $6.1M–$13.9M before Steam's cut	$9.99	19k reviews Very Positive	PlatformerComedy
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy 2019	Est. copies ≈ 1.3M–2.1M 2.8x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $10.8M–$28.9M after Steam's cut $19.5M–$44.5M before Steam's cut	$29.99	45k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	DetectiveVisual Novel
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated 2020	Est. copies ≈ 452k–735k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $3.7M–$10.0M after Steam's cut $6.8M–$15.4M before Steam's cut	$29.99	18k reviews Very Positive	3D PlatformerAdventure
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition 2007	Est. copies ≈ 992k–1.6M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $1.9M–$5.1M after Steam's cut $3.5M–$7.9M before Steam's cut	$6.99	16k reviews Very Positive	CyberpunkRPG
NieR Replicant™ ver.1.22474487139... 2021	Est. copies ≈ 707k–1.1M 1.7x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $11.7M–$31.3M after Steam's cut $21.2M–$48.2M before Steam's cut	$59.99	28k reviews Very Positive	Great SoundtrackStory Rich
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2007	Est. copies ≈ 973k–1.6M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $5.3M–$14.4M after Steam's cut $9.7M–$22.1M before Steam's cut	$19.99	15k reviews Very Positive	RPGVampire
Mafia 2002	Est. copies ≈ 1.0M–1.7M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $4.3M–$11.5M after Steam's cut $7.7M–$17.6M before Steam's cut	$14.99	16k reviews Very Positive	ActionStory Rich
RuneScape ® 2020	Est. copies ≈ 677k–1.1M 1.7x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue Free	Free	27k reviews Very Positive	Free to PlayMMORPG