How many copies did What Never Was sell?

147k to 239k copies, based on its 5k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

How much revenue did What Never Was make?

What Never Was is free to play, so there is no copy-sales revenue to estimate.

How big is What Never Was?

Estimated players who have it: ≈ 147k–239k; from 5k 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 What Never Was and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including What Never Was's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 404k–872k

best case 1.4M (Return of the Obra Dinn)

Games like What Never Was

A typical game among these

≈ 404k–872k copies

≈ $3.9M–$12.7M after Steam's cut

from ~20k 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: Return of the Obra Dinn at ≈ 1.1M–1.7M copies, ≈ $5.9M–$15.9M after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 6k reviews in their first month; the range was 2k to 9k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Puzzle (8 of 8) and Story Rich (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Detective + Mystery, priced around $20.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2014 to 2025, and 3 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 70 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
The Talos Principle 2014	Est. copies ≈ 1.9M–3.0M 1.6x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $15.3M–$41.1M after Steam's cut $27.8M–$63.2M before Steam's cut	$29.99	33k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	PuzzlePhilosophical
The Talos Principle 2 2023	Est. copies ≈ 333k–541k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $2.7M–$7.4M after Steam's cut $5.0M–$11.4M before Steam's cut	$29.99	13k reviews Very Positive	Puzzle Story Rich
Amanda the Adventurer 2023	Est. copies ≈ 181k–294k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $447k–$1.2M after Steam's cut $813k–$1.8M before Steam's cut	$8.99	7k reviews Very Positive	HorrorFirst-Person
Murders on the Yangtze River 2024	Est. copies ≈ 528k–858k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $2.2M–$5.9M after Steam's cut $4.0M–$9.0M before Steam's cut	$14.99	21k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	DetectiveAdventure
Return of the Obra Dinn 2018	Est. copies ≈ 1.1M–1.7M 1.7x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $5.9M–$15.9M after Steam's cut $10.7M–$24.4M before Steam's cut	$19.99	35k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	DetectiveMystery
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle 2024	Est. copies ≈ 515k–837k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $9.9M–$26.6M after Steam's cut $18.0M–$41.0M before Steam's cut	$69.99	21k reviews Very Positive	Action-AdventureFirst-Person
Blue Prince 2025	Est. copies ≈ 501k–814k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $4.1M–$11.1M after Steam's cut $7.5M–$17.1M before Steam's cut	$29.99	20k reviews Very Positive	PuzzleExploration
Amnesia: Rebirth 2020	Est. copies ≈ 232k–377k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $1.9M–$5.1M after Steam's cut $3.5M–$7.9M before Steam's cut	$29.99	9k reviews Mostly Positive	Action-AdventureFirst-Person