How much revenue did Aquatico make?

$148k–$399k after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Aquatico sell?

Q: How many copies did Aquatico sell?

22k to 35k copies, based on its 871 Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 22k–35k; $148k–$399k after Steam's cut $270k–$614k before the cut; from 871 reviews (Mixed)

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

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.1M–2.6M

best case 5.5M (Frostpunk)

Games like Aquatico

The middle of these games

≈ 1.1M–2.6M copies

≈ $11.2M–$24.1M after Steam's cut

from ~31k 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: Frostpunk at ≈ 4.2M–6.8M copies, ≈ $34.4M–$92.4M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on City Builder (8 of 8) and Colony Sim (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with City Builder + Survival, priced around $30.
The era: The games you compared span 2014 to 2024, and 1 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 70 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
Dwarf Fortress 2022	Est. copies ≈ 780k–1.3M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $6.4M–$17.3M after Steam's cut $11.7M–$26.6M before the cut	$29.99	31k reviews Very Positive	DwarfColony Sim
Banished 2014	Est. copies ≈ 2.4M–3.9M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $13.3M–$35.8M after Steam's cut $24.2M–$55.1M before the cut	$19.99	43k reviews Very Positive	City Builder Colony Sim
Kingdoms and Castles 2017	Est. copies ≈ 1.1M–1.8M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $5.9M–$16.0M after Steam's cut $10.8M–$24.6M before the cut	$19.99	31k reviews Very Positive	City Builder Colony Sim
They Are Billions 2019	Est. copies ≈ 1.5M–2.4M 1.6x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $12.2M–$32.8M after Steam's cut $22.2M–$50.5M before the cut	$29.99	51k reviews Very Positive	Base-BuildingColony Sim
Surviving Mars 2018	Est. copies ≈ 873k–1.4M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue Free	Free	29k reviews Mostly Positive	Colony Sim City Builder
Surviving the Abyss 2024	Est. copies ≈ 27k–43k too small to compare SteamSpy 100k–200k	Est. revenue $147k–$395k after Steam's cut $267k–$607k before the cut	$19.99	1k reviews Mixed	City Builder Colony Sim
Frostpunk 2018	Est. copies ≈ 4.2M–6.8M 4.4x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $34.4M–$92.4M after Steam's cut $62.5M–$142.2M before the cut	$29.99	137k reviews Very Positive	City Builder Survival
Dawn of Man 2019	Est. copies ≈ 513k–834k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $3.5M–$9.5M after Steam's cut $6.4M–$14.6M before the cut	$24.99	18k reviews Very Positive	City Builder Colony Sim