How much revenue did The Sims™ 3 make?

$11.9M–$32.1M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did The Sims™ 3 sell?

Q: How many copies did The Sims™ 3 sell?

2.2M to 3.5M copies, based on its 34k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 2.2M–3.5M; $11.9M–$32.1M after Steam's cut $21.7M–$49.4M before Steam's cut; from 34k reviews (Very 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 The Sims™ 3 and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including The Sims™ 3's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 835k–947k

best case 6.5M (The Sims™ 4)

Games like The Sims™ 3

A typical game among these

≈ 835k–947k copies

≈ $10.5M–$14.6M after Steam's cut

from ~28k 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: The Sims™ 4 at ≈ 5.0M–8.1M copies. 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 12k reviews in their first month; the range was 951 to 20k.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Life Sim (8 of 8) and Character Customization (6 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Life Sim + Character Customization. The breakout hits carry Free to Play + Romance + Singleplayer; a typical game here doesn't.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2017 to 2025, 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
The Sims™ 4 2020	Est. copies ≈ 5.0M–8.1M 7.2x vs typical SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue Free	Free	201k reviews Very Positive	Life SimCharacter Customization
Coral Island 2023	Est. copies ≈ 690k–1.1M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $5.7M–$15.3M after Steam's cut $10.4M–$23.6M before Steam's cut	$29.99	28k reviews Very Positive	Farming SimLife Sim
My Time at Sandrock 2023	Est. copies ≈ 722k–1.2M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $7.9M–$21.3M after Steam's cut $14.4M–$32.8M before Steam's cut	$39.99	29k reviews Very Positive	Life SimBuilding
Nobody - The Turnaround 2022	Est. copies ≈ 355k–576k too small to compare SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue Free	Free	14k reviews Mixed	Early AccessLife Sim
Disney Dreamlight Valley 2023	Est. copies ≈ 617k–1.0M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $6.8M–$18.3M after Steam's cut $12.3M–$28.1M before Steam's cut	$39.99	25k reviews Very Positive	RelaxingLife Sim
Youtubers Life 2017	Est. copies ≈ 530k–862k too small to compare SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $2.9M–$7.8M after Steam's cut $5.3M–$12.1M before Steam's cut	$19.99	15k reviews Mostly Positive	ManagementSingleplayer
Sun Haven 2023	Est. copies ≈ 636k–1.0M SteamSpy 500k–1M	Est. revenue $4.4M–$11.8M after Steam's cut $8.0M–$18.1M before Steam's cut	$24.99	26k reviews Very Positive	Farming SimPixel Graphics
inZOI 2025	Est. copies ≈ 824k–1.3M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $9.1M–$24.4M after Steam's cut $16.5M–$37.5M before Steam's cut	$39.99	33k reviews Mostly Positive	Life SimCharacter Customization