How much revenue did SpaceChem make?

$884k–$2.4M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did SpaceChem sell?

Q: How many copies did SpaceChem sell?

322k to 523k copies, based on its 5k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 322k–523k; $884k–$2.4M after Steam's cut $1.6M–$3.7M before Steam's cut; 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 SpaceChem and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including SpaceChem's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 203k–292k

best case 1.7M (Hacknet)

Games like SpaceChem

A typical game among these

≈ 203k–292k copies

≈ $1.3M–$1.7M after Steam's cut

from ~5k 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: Hacknet at ≈ 1.3M–2.1M copies, ≈ $3.5M–$9.4M after Steam's cut. It is a breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Programming (8 of 8) and Puzzle (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Programming, priced around $12. The breakout hits carry Singleplayer + Pixel Graphics + Cute; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2015 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 61 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
Human Resource Machine 2015	Est. copies ≈ 230k–373k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $946k–$2.5M after Steam's cut $1.7M–$3.9M before Steam's cut	$14.99	5k reviews Very Positive	ProgrammingPuzzle
Turing Complete 2021	Est. copies ≈ 144k–233k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $789k–$2.1M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.3M before Steam's cut	$19.99	6k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	ProgrammingLogic
Opus Magnum 2017	Est. copies ≈ 250k–407k 1.6x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $1.4M–$3.7M after Steam's cut $2.5M–$5.7M before Steam's cut	$19.99	7k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	PuzzleProgramming
Baba Is You 2019	Est. copies ≈ 712k–1.2M 5.4x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $2.9M–$7.9M after Steam's cut $5.3M–$12.1M before Steam's cut	$14.99	25k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	PuzzleIndie
Hacknet 2015	Est. copies ≈ 1.3M–2.1M 5.7x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $3.5M–$9.4M after Steam's cut $6.4M–$14.5M before Steam's cut	$9.99	26k reviews Very Positive	HackingSimulation
SHENZHEN I/O 2016	Est. copies ≈ 189k–306k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $777k–$2.1M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.2M before Steam's cut	$14.99	5k reviews Very Positive	ProgrammingAutomation
TIS-100 2015	Est. copies ≈ 201k–326k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $386k–$1.0M after Steam's cut $702k–$1.6M before Steam's cut	$6.99	4k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	ProgrammingPuzzle
Duskers 2016	Est. copies ≈ 117k–191k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $645k–$1.7M after Steam's cut $1.2M–$2.7M before Steam's cut	$19.99	3k reviews Very Positive	ExplorationTyping