How the Steam sales estimate works
Game pages show two ranges for paid, released games: copies sold on Steam, and gross revenue on Steam. Both are estimates based on an aggregation of industry-accepted conversion formulas. They start from a number Steam does publish: how many people who bought the game on Steam wrote a review.
Copies sold
Copies = Steam reviews by buyers × copies per review. The number of copies per review changes with a game’s size: smaller games get fewer, games with about 20,000 reviews the most, and the biggest, longest-selling games fewer again.
Gross revenue
Gross revenue = Steam reviews by buyers × today’s regular US price × a revenue-per-review factor. The factor is the same for every game and stands for what buyers spend on Steam per review written, with discounts and cheaper regional prices included. Copies and revenue are estimated separately, so dividing one range by the other does not give the price buyers paid. It is gross: what buyers paid on Steam, before refunds, tax and Steam’s cut are taken off, so the developer’s share is well below it. When a game’s price has changed, the estimate uses today’s price.
How far to trust it
The ranges are wide on purpose, because the link between reviews and sales varies a lot from game to game. Most games’ real figures fall inside their ranges, but any one game can sit outside them. Treat it as a rough guide, not a sales report.
When there is no estimate
Free-to-play games, games not yet released, DLC, betas and software, games with fewer than 50 Steam reviews by buyers, games out for less than 14 days, and games with no known release date get no estimate. Games with no price data show copies only.
What can throw it off
- Keys sold outside Steam (bundles, Kickstarter, other stores) and Game Pass players don’t leave Steam-purchase reviews, so they aren’t counted.
- Copies per review shift over a game’s life, so games out for less than a year tend to read high. Games sold on Steam before reviews began in November 2013 tend to read low, and say so on their page.
- It counts copies sold, not owners: gifts, family sharing and free copies differ.