How much revenue did Cities: Skylines make?

$117.4M–$315.8M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Cities: Skylines sell?

Q: How many copies did Cities: Skylines sell?

14.2M to 23.1M copies, based on its 292k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 14.2M–23.1M; $117.4M–$315.8M after Steam's cut $213.5M–$485.8M before the cut; from 292k 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 Cities: Skylines out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Cities: Skylines's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 4.4M–8.2M

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

Games like Cities: Skylines

The middle of these games

≈ 4.4M–8.2M copies

≈ $54.4M–$110.4M after Steam's cut

from ~127k 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.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Building (6 of 8) and Base-Building (5 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Turn-Based Strategy + Historical, priced around $60.
The era: The games you compared span 2015 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 61 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
Kenshi 2018	Est. copies ≈ 3.5M–5.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $29.1M–$78.2M after Steam's cut $52.9M–$120.3M before the cut	$29.99	116k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Open WorldSandbox
Planet Zoo 2019	Est. copies ≈ 2.8M–4.6M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $34.7M–$93.4M after Steam's cut $63.2M–$143.7M before the cut	$44.99	97k reviews Very Positive	Management Simulation
Factorio 2020	Est. copies ≈ 5.8M–9.4M 1.8x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $55.8M–$150.2M after Steam's cut $101.5M–$231.0M before the cut	$35.00	234k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AutomationBase-Building
Frostpunk 2018	Est. copies ≈ 4.2M–6.8M 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
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI 2016	Est. copies ≈ 15.7M–25.6M 3.0x 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
Prison Architect 2015	Est. copies ≈ 3.6M–5.8M 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
Dyson Sphere Program 2021	Est. copies ≈ 2.3M–3.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $12.5M–$33.6M after Steam's cut $22.7M–$51.6M before the cut	$19.99	92k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	AutomationSpace
RimWorld 2018	Est. copies ≈ 7.5M–12.1M 1.9x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $71.8M–$193.1M after Steam's cut $130.6M–$297.1M before the cut	$34.99	246k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Colony SimBase-Building