How much revenue did Sid Meier's Civilization® V make?

$109.7M–$295.1M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Sid Meier's Civilization® V sell?

Q: How many copies did Sid Meier's Civilization® V sell?

13.3M to 21.6M copies, based on its 211k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 13.3M–21.6M; $109.7M–$295.1M after Steam's cut $199.5M–$454.0M before the cut; from 211k reviews (Overwhelmingly 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® V out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Sid Meier's Civilization® V's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 2.3M–6.0M

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

Games like Sid Meier's Civilization® V

The middle of these games

≈ 2.3M–6.0M copies

≈ $26.3M–$117.2M after Steam's cut

from ~68k 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 Grand Strategy (8 of 8) and Historical (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Turn-Based Strategy + Historical, priced around $60.
The era: The games you compared span 2009 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
Total War: NAPOLEON – Definitive Edition 2010	Est. copies ≈ 1.7M–2.8M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $12.0M–$32.2M after Steam's cut $21.7M–$49.5M before the cut	$24.99	28k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
Total War: SHOGUN 2 2011	Est. copies ≈ 4.3M–6.9M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $35.2M–$94.8M after Steam's cut $64.1M–$145.8M before the cut	$29.99	68k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
Total War: SHOGUN 2 unreleased	Est. copies ≈ 1.7M–2.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue Free	Free	68k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition 2013	Est. copies ≈ 5.6M–9.0M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $91.8M–$246.8M after Steam's cut $166.9M–$379.7M before the cut	$59.99	88k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
Total War: EMPIRE – Definitive Edition 2009	Est. copies ≈ 2.4M–3.9M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $16.5M–$44.4M after Steam's cut $30.1M–$68.4M before the cut	$24.99	38k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI 2016	Est. copies ≈ 15.7M–25.6M 5.6x 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
Total War: THREE KINGDOMS 2019	Est. copies ≈ 2.7M–4.4M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $29.6M–$79.7M after Steam's cut $53.9M–$122.6M before the cut	$39.99	94k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
HUMANKIND™ 2021	Est. copies ≈ 709k–1.2M 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