How big is the Simulation market on Steam?

A typical Simulation game sells 918 to 1k copies, and the top decile 37k to 60k, based on the 19,419 games SteamSpy lists for the tag (its visible subset). Labeled estimates from review counts, not exact sales.

The realistic ceiling for Simulation games

Two honest views of what Simulation 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

≈ 918–1k copies

$2k–$4k after Steam's cut, est.

The top decile

≈ 37k–60k copies

$66k–$177k after Steam's cut, est.

Half the reviews in SteamSpy's sample of 19,419 Simulation games sit with 67 of them.

Based on the 19,419 Simulation 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 Simulation games gathered on wishvane

Across the 3426 Simulation games compared here, the middle one runs ≈ 1k–55k copies (est.), with Stardew Valley the biggest comparable game at ≈ 43.0M–69.9M. 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 Simulation games gathered here span 2006 to 2026, and 832 of the 3423 of them shipped in the last two years.
The biggest Simulation games here lead with Farming Sim + Life Sim.
Across the Simulation games gathered here the median price is $9.99, and the biggest charge more, around $15.

and 3366 more

Building a Simulation 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.