How much revenue did Sid Meier's Civilization® V make?

$110.0M–$295.6M after Steam's roughly 30% cut, derived from the copies estimate and its price.

How many copies did Sid Meier's Civilization® V sell?

Q: How many copies did Sid Meier's Civilization® V sell?

13.3M to 21.7M copies, based on its 211k Steam reviews. This is a labeled estimate from the review count, not exact sales.

Estimated copies sold: ≈ 13.3M–21.7M; $110.0M–$295.6M after Steam's cut $199.9M–$454.8M before Steam's cut; from 211k 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 Sid Meier's Civilization® V and predicted how it would do from its 8 similar games. Every figure here, including Sid Meier's Civilization® V's, is estimated from Steam reviews.

Copies, estimated from reviews

typical (middle half) 2.3M–6.1M

best case 20.7M (Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI)

Games like Sid Meier's Civilization® V

A typical game among these

≈ 2.3M–6.1M copies

≈ $21.3M–$75.2M after Steam's cut

from ~68k 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: Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI at ≈ 15.8M–25.7M copies, ≈ $260.5M–$700.4M after Steam's cut.

The genre you'd be entering

These games: The similar games share Grand Strategy (8 of 8) and Historical (8 of 8).
The winners: Winners here lead with Turn-Based Strategy + Historical, priced around $60.
When they shipped: The similar games span 2009 to 2021, 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
Total War: NAPOLEON – Definitive Edition 2010	Est. copies ≈ 1.7M–2.8M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $9.6M–$25.9M after Steam's cut $17.5M–$39.8M before Steam's cut	$19.99	28k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
Total War: SHOGUN 2 2011	Est. copies ≈ 4.3M–7.0M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $35.4M–$95.2M after Steam's cut $64.4M–$146.5M before Steam's cut	$29.99	68k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
Total War: SHOGUN 2 unreleased	Est. copies ≈ 1.7M–2.7M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue Free	Free	68k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition 2013	Est. copies ≈ 5.6M–9.1M SteamSpy 2M–5M	Est. revenue $46.1M–$124.0M after Steam's cut $83.8M–$190.7M before Steam's cut	$29.99	88k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
Total War: EMPIRE – Definitive Edition 2009	Est. copies ≈ 2.4M–3.9M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $13.3M–$35.6M after Steam's cut $24.1M–$54.8M before Steam's cut	$19.99	38k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI 2016	Est. copies ≈ 15.8M–25.7M 5.6x vs typical SteamSpy 10M–20M	Est. revenue $260.5M–$700.4M after Steam's cut $473.7M–$1077.6M before Steam's cut	$59.99	380k reviews Very Positive	StrategyTurn-Based Strategy
Total War: THREE KINGDOMS 2019	Est. copies ≈ 2.7M–4.4M SteamSpy 5M–10M	Est. revenue $29.7M–$79.9M after Steam's cut $54.0M–$123.0M before Steam's cut	$39.99	94k reviews Very Positive	StrategyHistorical
HUMANKIND™ 2021	Est. copies ≈ 715k–1.2M SteamSpy 1M–2M	Est. revenue $9.8M–$26.4M after Steam's cut $17.9M–$40.7M before Steam's cut	$49.99	29k reviews Mixed	StrategyTurn-Based Strategy