How much revenue did Total War: EMPIRE – Definitive Edition make?

$16.5M–$44.4M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Total War: EMPIRE – Definitive Edition sell?

Q: How many copies did Total War: EMPIRE – Definitive Edition sell?

2.4M to 3.9M copies, based on its 38k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 2.4M–3.9M; $16.5M–$44.4M after Steam's cut $30.1M–$68.4M before the cut; from 38k 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 Total War: EMPIRE – Definitive Edition out and predicted the genre from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Total War: EMPIRE – Definitive Edition's, is estimated from Steam reviews, not self-reported sales.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.4M–4.1M

best case 20.5M (Hearts of Iron IV)

Games like Total War: EMPIRE – Definitive Edition

The middle of these games

≈ 1.4M–4.1M copies

≈ $12.4M–$59.8M after Steam's cut

from ~48k 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: Hearts of Iron IV at ≈ 15.6M–25.4M copies, ≈ $215.0M–$578.2M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering

Your set: Your set clusters on Grand Strategy (8 of 8) and Historical (7 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with World War II + Grand Strategy, priced around $50.
The era: The games you compared span 2010 to 2020, 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
Hearts of Iron IV 2016	Est. copies ≈ 15.6M–25.4M 7.9x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $215.0M–$578.2M after Steam's cut $391.0M–$889.5M before the cut	$49.99	376k reviews Very Positive	StrategyWorld War II
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: NAPOLEON – Definitive Edition 2010	Est. copies ≈ 1.7M–2.8M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $9.6M–$25.8M after Steam's cut $17.4M–$39.7M before the cut	$19.99	28k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS XIV 2020	Est. copies ≈ 395k–643k SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $6.5M–$17.5M after Steam's cut $11.9M–$27.0M before the cut	$59.99	16k reviews Mixed	Turn-Based TacticsWargame
Total War: THREE KINGDOMS 2019	Est. copies ≈ 2.7M–4.4M 2.0x vs typical 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
Victoria II 2010	Est. copies ≈ 1.3M–2.1M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $7.0M–$18.7M after Steam's cut $12.6M–$28.8M before the cut	$19.99	20k reviews Very Positive	Grand StrategyStrategy
Total War: SHOGUN 2 unreleased	Est. copies ≈ 1.7M–2.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue Free	Free	68k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA 2018	Est. copies ≈ 453k–736k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $2.5M–$6.7M after Steam's cut $4.5M–$10.3M before the cut	$19.99	15k reviews Mostly Positive	StrategyHistorical