How much revenue did Pretend make?

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

How many copies did Pretend sell?

Q: How many copies did Pretend sell?

32k to 52k copies, based on its 1k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 32k–52k; from 1k reviews (Mixed)

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 Pretend and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Pretend's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 4.7M–7.4M

best case 125.7M (PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS)

Games like Pretend

A typical game among these

≈ 4.7M–7.4M copies

≈ $42.0M–$90.7M after Steam's cut

from ~154k 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 Sandbox (3 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: PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS at ≈ 95.8M–155.7M copies. 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 47k reviews in their first month; the range was 26k to 86k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Sandbox (3 of 8) and Automation (2 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Survival + Shooter. The breakout hits carry Battle Royale + PvP + Third-Person Shooter; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: None of the similar games shipped in the last two years; the newest is from 2022. That says more about which games were found than about the market.

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 43 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
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator 2021	Est. copies ≈ 3.8M–6.2M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $21.0M–$56.6M after Steam's cut $38.3M–$87.1M before Steam's cut	$19.99	154k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SandboxSimulation
World of Warships 2017	Est. copies ≈ 5.4M–8.8M SteamSpy 20M–50M	Est. revenue Free	Free	157k reviews Mostly Positive	Free to PlayNaval Combat
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS 2017	Est. copies ≈ 95.8M–155.7M 18x vs typical SteamSpy 100M–200M	Est. revenue Free	Free	2.8M reviews Mixed	SurvivalShooter
Slay the Spire 2019	Est. copies ≈ 6.3M–10.3M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $43.5M–$116.9M after Steam's cut $79.0M–$179.8M before Steam's cut	$24.99	220k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Roguelike DeckbuilderCard Game
Hell Let Loose 2021	Est. copies ≈ 3.7M–6.0M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $51.1M–$137.3M after Steam's cut $92.9M–$211.3M before Steam's cut	$49.99	150k reviews Very Positive	ShooterRealistic
Dyson Sphere Program 2021	Est. copies ≈ 2.3M–3.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $12.5M–$33.7M after Steam's cut $22.8M–$51.9M before Steam's cut	$19.99	92k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AutomationSpace
Factorio 2020	Est. copies ≈ 5.9M–9.5M 1.5x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $56.4M–$151.5M after Steam's cut $102.5M–$233.1M before Steam's cut	$35.00	236k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AutomationBase-Building
Teardown 2022	Est. copies ≈ 3.4M–5.5M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $27.9M–$75.0M after Steam's cut $50.7M–$115.4M before Steam's cut	$29.99	136k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	DestructionPhysics