How much revenue did ZED make?

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

How many copies did ZED sell?

Q: How many copies did ZED sell?

5k to 8k copies, based on its 169 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 5k–8k; from 169 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 ZED and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including ZED's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 61k–115k

best case 218k (Obduction)

Games like ZED

A typical game among these

≈ 61k–115k copies

≈ $413k–$1.0M after Steam's cut

from ~2k reviews

Only the top fifth of 2019's Steam releases earned $34k or more before Steam's cut, so plan for that or less.

7 of the 8 similar games are hits.

Best case: Obduction at ≈ 166k–270k copies, ≈ $1.4M–$3.7M after Steam's cut.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 815 reviews in their first month; the range was 479 to 2k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Exploration (7 of 8) and Puzzle (7 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Puzzle + Exploration, priced around $30.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2013 to 2024, 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
Obduction 2016	Est. copies ≈ 166k–270k 2.4x vs typical SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $1.4M–$3.7M after Steam's cut $2.5M–$5.7M before Steam's cut	$29.99	4k reviews Mostly Positive	AdventurePuzzle
Firmament 2023	Est. copies ≈ 41k–66k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $393k–$1.1M after Steam's cut $714k–$1.6M before Steam's cut	$34.99	2k reviews Mostly Positive	PuzzleAdventure
Dream 2015	Est. copies ≈ 49k–79k SteamSpy 50k–100k	Est. revenue $120k–$323k after Steam's cut $218k–$497k before Steam's cut	$8.99	996 reviews Mixed	IndieAdventure
Riven 2024	Est. copies ≈ 72k–116k 1.7x vs typical SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $689k–$1.9M after Steam's cut $1.3M–$2.9M before Steam's cut	$34.99	3k reviews Very Positive	PuzzleAdventure
MIND: Path to Thalamus Enhanced Edition 2014	Est. copies ≈ 80k–130k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $329k–$885k after Steam's cut $599k–$1.4M before Steam's cut	$14.99	1k reviews Mixed	AdventurePuzzle
Kairo 2013	Est. copies ≈ 111k–180k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $152k–$409k after Steam's cut $277k–$630k before Steam's cut	$4.99	2k reviews Mostly Positive	PuzzleExploration
Myst 2021	Est. copies ≈ 55k–89k SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $528k–$1.4M after Steam's cut $960k–$2.2M before Steam's cut	$34.99	2k reviews Very Positive	AdventurePuzzle
Red Matter 2018	Est. copies ≈ 36k–59k SteamSpy under 20k	Est. revenue $248k–$666k after Steam's cut $450k–$1.0M before Steam's cut	$24.99	1k reviews Very Positive	VRPuzzle