How many copies did EVE Online sell?

2.5M to 4.1M copies, based on its 40k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

How much revenue did EVE Online make?

EVE Online is free to play, so there is no copy-sales revenue to estimate.

How big is EVE Online?

Estimated players who have it: ≈ 2.5M–4.1M; from 40k 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 EVE Online and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including EVE Online's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 232k–508k

best case 1.2M (X4: Foundations)

Games like EVE Online

A typical game among these

≈ 232k–508k copies

≈ $1.6M–$6.7M after Steam's cut

from ~7k 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: X4: Foundations at ≈ 920k–1.5M copies, ≈ $12.7M–$34.0M after Steam's cut.

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 3k to 6k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Open World (5 of 8) and Sandbox (5 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Space Sim + Simulation, priced around $50.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2008 to 2025, 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
Avorion 2020	Est. copies ≈ 362k–588k 2.1x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $2.5M–$6.7M after Steam's cut $4.5M–$10.3M before Steam's cut	$24.99	15k reviews Very Positive	ExplorationSandbox
X3: Terran Conflict 2008	Est. copies ≈ 182k–295k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $799k–$2.1M after Steam's cut $1.5M–$3.3M before Steam's cut	$15.99	3k reviews Very Positive	SpaceSimulation
X Rebirth 2013	Est. copies ≈ 462k–751k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $3.8M–$10.3M after Steam's cut $6.9M–$15.8M before Steam's cut	$29.99	7k reviews Mixed	SimulationSpace
CryoFall 2021	Est. copies ≈ 161k–261k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $882k–$2.4M after Steam's cut $1.6M–$3.7M before Steam's cut	$19.99	6k reviews Mostly Positive	Colony SimCrafting
Endless Sky 2015	Est. copies ≈ 347k–564k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue Free	Free	7k reviews Very Positive	SpaceFree to Play
X4: Foundations 2018	Est. copies ≈ 920k–1.5M 4.5x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $12.7M–$34.0M after Steam's cut $23.0M–$52.3M before Steam's cut	$49.99	30k reviews Mostly Positive	Space SimSimulation
Anno 2205™ 2015	Est. copies ≈ 311k–505k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $3.4M–$9.2M after Steam's cut $6.2M–$14.1M before Steam's cut	$39.99	6k reviews Mostly Positive	City BuilderStrategy
SpaceBourne 2 2025	Est. copies ≈ 128k–208k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $704k–$1.9M after Steam's cut $1.3M–$2.9M before Steam's cut	$19.99	5k reviews Mostly Positive	Early AccessRPG