How much revenue did Tropico 5 make?

$4.4M–$11.9M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Tropico 5 sell?

Q: How many copies did Tropico 5 sell?

808k to 1.3M copies, based on its 14k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 808k–1.3M; $4.4M–$11.9M after Steam's cut $8.1M–$18.4M before Steam's cut; from 14k 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 Tropico 5 and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Tropico 5's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 1.3M–2.6M

best case 18.7M (Cities: Skylines)

Games like Tropico 5

A typical game among these

≈ 1.3M–2.6M copies

≈ $15.6M–$37.0M after Steam's cut

from ~43k 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: Cities: Skylines at ≈ 14.2M–23.1M copies, ≈ $117.2M–$315.2M after Steam's cut. It is a breakout hit, far above a typical game.

What their first month looked like

About half the games that made it here had over 16k reviews in their first month; the range was 6k to 34k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share City Builder (8 of 8) and Sandbox (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with City Builder + Simulation, priced around $30. The breakout hits carry Moddable; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2014 to 2023, 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 70 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
Jurassic World Evolution 2018	Est. copies ≈ 1.7M–2.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $20.8M–$55.9M after Steam's cut $37.8M–$86.1M before Steam's cut	$44.99	55k reviews Very Positive	BuildingDinosaurs
Dwarf Fortress 2022	Est. copies ≈ 783k–1.3M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $6.5M–$17.4M after Steam's cut $11.7M–$26.7M before Steam's cut	$29.99	32k reviews Very Positive	DwarfColony Sim
Cities: Skylines 2015	Est. copies ≈ 14.2M–23.1M 6.7x vs typical SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $117.2M–$315.2M after Steam's cut $213.1M–$484.9M before Steam's cut	$29.99	291k reviews Very Positive	City Builder Simulation
Banished 2014	Est. copies ≈ 2.4M–3.9M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $13.3M–$35.9M after Steam's cut $24.3M–$55.2M before Steam's cut	$19.99	43k reviews Very Positive	City Builder Colony Sim
Cities: Skylines II 2023	Est. copies ≈ 2.3M–3.7M 2.1x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $31.5M–$84.7M after Steam's cut $57.3M–$130.4M before Steam's cut	$49.99	92k reviews Mixed	City Builder Simulation
Transport Fever 2 2019	Est. copies ≈ 950k–1.5M 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
Kingdoms and Castles 2017	Est. copies ≈ 1.1M–1.8M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $6.0M–$16.0M after Steam's cut $10.8M–$24.6M before Steam's cut	$19.99	32k reviews Very Positive	City Builder Colony Sim
Jurassic World Evolution 2 2021	Est. copies ≈ 1.2M–1.9M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $19.3M–$51.9M after Steam's cut $35.1M–$79.9M before Steam's cut	$59.99	47k reviews Very Positive	DinosaursBuilding