How much revenue did Cartel Tycoon make?

$778k–$2.1M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Cartel Tycoon sell?

Q: How many copies did Cartel Tycoon sell?

94k to 153k copies, based on its 4k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 94k–153k; $778k–$2.1M after Steam's cut $1.4M–$3.2M before the cut; from 4k reviews (Mostly Positive)

A labeled estimate from the public review count (adjusted for release year), not exact sales. Owner data cross-checked with SteamSpy.

Does this actually work?

We left Cartel Tycoon out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Cartel Tycoon's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 334k–778k

best case 4.7M (Prison Architect)

Games like Cartel Tycoon

The middle of these games

≈ 334k–778k copies

≈ $2.0M–$9.4M after Steam's cut

from ~12k reviews

Only the top fifth of 2019’s Steam releases earned about $34k gross, so plan for that or less.

All 8 of your similar games are hits.

Best case: Prison Architect at ≈ 3.6M–5.8M copies, ≈ $29.7M–$79.8M after Steam's cut.

What it took to get here

About half the games that made it here had over 8k reviews in their first month; the spread ran 744 to 22k.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on City Builder (5 of 8) and Sandbox (5 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Simulation + Building, priced around $30.
The era: The games you compared span 2009 to 2025, and 3 of your 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
Stronghold 2: Steam Edition 2017	Est. copies ≈ 198k–322k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $816k–$2.2M after Steam's cut $1.5M–$3.4M before the cut	$14.99	6k reviews Very Positive	City BuilderReal Time Tactics
Age of Mythology: Retold 2024	Est. copies ≈ 580k–942k 1.9x vs typical SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $4.8M–$12.9M after Steam's cut $8.7M–$19.8M before the cut	$29.99	23k reviews Very Positive	Strategy3D
Farthest Frontier 2025	Est. copies ≈ 630k–1.0M 2.1x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $6.1M–$16.3M after Steam's cut $11.0M–$25.1M before the cut	$34.99	25k reviews Very Positive	Early AccessHistorical
Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal 2014	Est. copies ≈ 270k–439k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $1.1M–$3.0M after Steam's cut $2.0M–$4.6M before the cut	$14.99	5k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Tower DefenseStrategy
shapez 2020	Est. copies ≈ 393k–638k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $1.1M–$2.9M after Steam's cut $2.0M–$4.5M before the cut	$9.99	16k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AutomationBase-Building
Prison Architect 2015	Est. copies ≈ 3.6M–5.8M 6.1x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $29.7M–$79.8M after Steam's cut $54.0M–$122.7M before the cut	$29.99	74k reviews Very Positive	SimulationBuilding
The Wandering Village 2025	Est. copies ≈ 209k–340k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $1.7M–$4.6M after Steam's cut $3.1M–$7.1M before the cut	$29.99	8k reviews Very Positive	Early AccessBuilding
The Stronghold Collection 2009	Est. copies ≈ 364k–591k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $2.5M–$6.7M after Steam's cut $4.5M–$10.3M before the cut	$24.99	6k reviews Very Positive	City BuilderReal Time Tactics