How big is the Colony sim market on Steam?

A typical Colony sim game sells 2k to 4k copies, and the top decile 112k to 181k, based on the 823 games SteamSpy lists for the tag (its visible subset). Labeled estimates from review counts, not exact sales.

The realistic ceiling for Colony sim games

Two honest views of what Colony sim games do on Steam: the whole market from a systematic sample, and the games gathered here. Kept separate on purpose.

The market

A typical game sells

≈ 2k–4k copies

$6k–$16k after Steam's cut, est.

The top decile

≈ 112k–181k copies

$307k–$825k after Steam's cut, est.

Half the reviews in SteamSpy's sample of 823 Colony sim games sit with 15 of them.

Based on the 823 Colony sim games SteamSpy listed on August 30, 2026. It misses the games that barely sold, so these figures flatter the genre. Games are grouped by the tags players give them, which are applied loosely, so a genre's edges are fuzzy. Owners are SteamSpy estimates from review counts, not exact sales.

The Colony sim games gathered on wishvane

Across the 218 Colony sim games compared here, the middle one runs ≈ 298k–409k copies (est.), with RimWorld the biggest comparable game at ≈ 7.5M–12.1M. These are the games people chose to compare, not a sample of the genre, so they run far larger than the market figures above.

The Colony sim games gathered here span 2008 to 2026, and 69 of the 218 of them shipped in the last two years.
The biggest Colony sim games here share nothing more specific than the genre; individually they lead with Space and City Builder.
Across the Colony sim games gathered here the median price is $17.99, and the biggest charge more, around $25.

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Building a Colony sim game? This genre already ran your experiment. Add the games yours will be compared to and see what's realistic, before you spend months on it.