How much revenue did Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization make?

$546k–$1.5M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization sell?

Q: How many copies did Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization sell?

99k to 161k copies, based on its 2k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 99k–161k; $546k–$1.5M after Steam's cut $992k–$2.3M before the cut; from 2k reviews (Very 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 Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 830k–1.3M

best case 20.6M (Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI)

Games like Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization

The middle of these games

≈ 830k–1.3M copies

≈ $5.0M–$17.5M after Steam's cut

from ~16k 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: Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI at ≈ 15.7M–25.6M copies, ≈ $259.5M–$697.7M after Steam's cut. A breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on 4X (8 of 8) and Turn-Based Strategy (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Turn-Based Strategy + Historical, priced around $45. The breakout hits carry Historical + Singleplayer + Addictive; a typical game here doesn't.
The era: The games you compared span 2006 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 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
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI 2016	Est. copies ≈ 15.7M–25.6M 24x vs typical SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $259.5M–$697.7M after Steam's cut $471.8M–$1073.4M before the cut	$59.99	378k reviews Very Positive	StrategyTurn-Based Strategy
Sid Meier's Civilization® V 2010	Est. copies ≈ 13.3M–21.6M 13x vs typical SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $109.7M–$295.1M after Steam's cut $199.5M–$454.0M before the cut	$29.99	211k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Turn-Based StrategyStrategy
HUMANKIND™ 2021	Est. copies ≈ 709k–1.2M 1.8x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $9.8M–$26.2M after Steam's cut $17.7M–$40.3M before the cut	$49.99	29k reviews Mixed	StrategyTurn-Based Strategy
Age of Wonders III 2014	Est. copies ≈ 717k–1.2M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $5.9M–$15.9M after Steam's cut $10.8M–$24.5M before the cut	$29.99	13k reviews Very Positive	StrategyTurn-Based Strategy
ENDLESS Space™ - Definitive Edition 2012	Est. copies ≈ 607k–986k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $1.7M–$4.5M after Steam's cut $3.0M–$6.9M before the cut	$9.99	10k reviews Very Positive	Strategy4X
Sid Meier's Civilization®: Beyond Earth™ 2014	Est. copies ≈ 1.3M–2.1M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $14.2M–$38.3M after Steam's cut $25.9M–$58.9M before the cut	$39.99	23k reviews Mixed	StrategyTurn-Based Strategy
Sid Meier's Civilization® III Complete 2006	Est. copies ≈ 492k–800k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $675k–$1.8M after Steam's cut $1.2M–$2.8M before the cut	$4.99	8k reviews Very Positive	StrategyTurn-Based Strategy
ENDLESS Legend™ 2014	Est. copies ≈ 1.1M–1.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $8.8M–$23.7M after Steam's cut $16.0M–$36.4M before the cut	$29.99	19k reviews Very Positive	Strategy4X