How many copies did Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition sell?

Q: How many copies did Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition sell?

1.8M to 2.9M copies, based on its 73k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Q: How much revenue did Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition make?

$29.8M–$80.0M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 1.8M–2.9M; $29.8M–$80.0M after Steam's cut $54.1M–$123.1M before the cut; from 73k 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 Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 822k–1.6M

best case 26.7M (BeamNG.drive)

Games like Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition

The middle of these games

≈ 822k–1.6M copies

≈ $10.8M–$17.6M after Steam's cut

from ~22k 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: BeamNG.drive at ≈ 20.3M–33.0M copies, ≈ $139.6M–$375.3M after Steam's cut. A breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Simulation (8 of 8) and Realistic (7 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Simulation + Driving, priced around $25. The breakout hits carry Driving + Destruction + Automobile Sim; a typical game here doesn't.
The era: The games you compared span 2013 to 2019, 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 36 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
BeamNG.drive 2015	Est. copies ≈ 20.3M–33.0M 19x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $139.6M–$375.3M after Steam's cut $253.8M–$577.4M before the cut	$24.99	416k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SimulationDriving
Liftoff®: FPV Drone Racing 2018	Est. copies ≈ 422k–686k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $2.3M–$6.2M after Steam's cut $4.2M–$9.6M before the cut	$19.99	14k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SimulationFlight
Transport Fever 2 2019	Est. copies ≈ 934k–1.5M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $10.3M–$27.6M after Steam's cut $18.7M–$42.5M before the cut	$39.99	32k reviews Very Positive	SimulationStrategy
DCS World Steam Edition 2013	Est. copies ≈ 2.6M–4.2M 1.9x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue Free	Free	41k reviews Very Positive	SimulationFlight
VTOL VR 2017	Est. copies ≈ 749k–1.2M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $6.2M–$16.6M after Steam's cut $11.2M–$25.5M before the cut	$29.99	22k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	FlightVR
IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad 2014	Est. copies ≈ 555k–902k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $7.6M–$20.5M after Steam's cut $13.9M–$31.6M before the cut	$49.99	10k reviews Mostly Positive	FlightRealistic
X-Plane 11 2017	Est. copies ≈ 697k–1.1M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $5.7M–$15.5M after Steam's cut $10.4M–$23.8M before the cut	$29.99	20k reviews Very Positive	SimulationFlight
Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition 2014	Est. copies ≈ 1.5M–2.4M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $10.2M–$27.4M after Steam's cut $18.5M–$42.1M before the cut	$24.99	26k reviews Very Positive	FlightSimulation