How much revenue did RimWorld make?

$72.7M–$195.4M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did RimWorld sell?

Q: How many copies did RimWorld sell?

7.6M to 12.3M copies, based on its 249k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 7.6M–12.3M; $72.7M–$195.4M after Steam's cut $132.2M–$300.7M before Steam's cut; from 249k reviews (Overwhelmingly 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 RimWorld and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including RimWorld's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 895k–1.2M

best case 5.4M (Oxygen Not Included)

Games like RimWorld

A typical game among these

≈ 895k–1.2M copies

≈ $10.1M–$12.4M after Steam's cut

from ~29k 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: Oxygen Not Included at ≈ 4.1M–6.7M copies, ≈ $28.5M–$76.7M 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 13k to 17k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Colony Sim (7 of 8) and City Builder (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Colony Sim + Survival, priced around $30. The breakout hits carry Survival; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2017 to 2024, and 1 of the 8 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 43 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
They Are Billions 2019	Est. copies ≈ 1.5M–2.4M 1.8x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $12.2M–$32.9M after Steam's cut $22.2M–$50.6M before Steam's cut	$29.99	52k reviews Very Positive	Base-BuildingColony Sim
Surviving Mars 2018	Est. copies ≈ 889k–1.4M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue Free	Free	29k reviews Mostly Positive	Colony Sim City Builder
Oxygen Not Included 2019	Est. copies ≈ 4.1M–6.7M 4.9x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $28.5M–$76.7M after Steam's cut $51.9M–$118.0M before Steam's cut	$24.99	144k reviews Overwhelmingly Positive	Colony SimBase-Building
Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic 2024	Est. copies ≈ 682k–1.1M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $7.5M–$20.2M after Steam's cut $13.6M–$31.0M before Steam's cut	$39.99	27k reviews Very Positive	StrategySimulation
Amazing Cultivation Simulator 2020	Est. copies ≈ 586k–952k SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $4.0M–$10.8M after Steam's cut $7.3M–$16.7M before Steam's cut	$24.99	24k reviews Very Positive	SimulationMartial Arts
Frostpunk 2018	Est. copies ≈ 4.2M–6.8M 4.7x vs typical SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $34.5M–$92.8M after Steam's cut $62.8M–$142.8M before Steam's cut	$29.99	138k reviews Very Positive	City Builder Survival
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
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