How many copies did Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition sell?

Q: How many copies did Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition sell?

1.8M to 2.9M copies, based on its 73k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Q: How much revenue did Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition make?

$29.9M–$80.5M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 1.8M–2.9M; $29.9M–$80.5M after Steam's cut $54.4M–$123.8M before Steam's cut; from 73k reviews (Mostly Positive)

Copies are estimated from the public review count, adjusted for release year, and cross-checked against SteamSpy's own estimate.

Did the prediction match what actually happened?

We hid Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 826k–1.6M

best case 27.0M (BeamNG.drive)

Games like Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition

A typical game among these

≈ 826k–1.6M copies

≈ $10.8M–$17.7M after Steam's cut

from ~22k reviews

Only the top fifth of 2019's Steam releases earned $34k or more before Steam's cut, so plan for that or less.

All 8 of the similar games are hits.

Best case: BeamNG.drive at ≈ 20.5M–33.4M copies, ≈ $141.2M–$379.6M after Steam's cut. It is a breakout hit, far above a typical game.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Simulation (8 of 8) and Realistic (7 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Simulation + Driving, priced around $25. The breakout hits carry Driving + Destruction + Automobile Sim; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2013 to 2019, 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 36 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
BeamNG.drive 2015	Est. copies ≈ 20.5M–33.4M 19x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $141.2M–$379.6M after Steam's cut $256.7M–$584.0M before Steam's cut	$24.99	421k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SimulationDriving
Liftoff®: FPV Drone Racing 2018	Est. copies ≈ 429k–697k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $2.4M–$6.3M after Steam's cut $4.3M–$9.7M before Steam's cut	$19.99	14k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	SimulationFlight
Transport Fever 2 2019	Est. copies ≈ 950k–1.5M 1.5x vs typical SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $10.4M–$28.1M after Steam's cut $19.0M–$43.2M before Steam's cut	$39.99	33k reviews Very Positive	SimulationStrategy
DCS World Steam Edition 2013	Est. copies ≈ 2.6M–4.2M 1.9x vs typical SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue Free	Free	41k reviews Very Positive	SimulationFlight
VTOL VR 2017	Est. copies ≈ 752k–1.2M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $6.2M–$16.7M after Steam's cut $11.3M–$25.7M before Steam's cut	$29.99	22k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	FlightVR
IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad 2014	Est. copies ≈ 559k–909k SteamSpy 200k–500k	Est. revenue $7.7M–$20.7M after Steam's cut $14.0M–$31.8M before Steam's cut	$49.99	10k reviews Mostly Positive	FlightRealistic
X-Plane 11 2017	Est. copies ≈ 699k–1.1M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $5.8M–$15.5M after Steam's cut $10.5M–$23.8M before Steam's cut	$29.99	20k reviews Very Positive	SimulationFlight
Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition 2014	Est. copies ≈ 1.5M–2.4M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $10.2M–$27.5M after Steam's cut $18.6M–$42.2M before Steam's cut	$24.99	27k reviews Very Positive	FlightSimulation