How big is the Simulation market on Steam?

A typical Simulation game sells under 20k copies, and the top decile 100k to 200k, based on the 19,419 games SteamSpy lists for the tag (its visible subset). Labeled estimates from review counts, not exact sales.

The realistic ceiling for Simulation games

Two honest views of what Simulation games do on Steam: the whole market from a systematic sample, and the games gathered here. Kept separate on purpose.

The market

A typical game sells

≈ under 20k copies

under $84k after Steam's cut, est.

The top decile

≈ 100k–200k copies

$419k–$839k after Steam's cut, est.

Half the reviews in SteamSpy's sample of 19,419 Simulation games sit with 67 of them.

Based on the 19,419 Simulation games SteamSpy lists, its visible subset, not the whole market. Games are grouped by the tags players give them, which are applied loosely, so a genre's edges are fuzzy. Owners are SteamSpy estimates from review counts, not exact sales.

The Simulation games gathered on wishvane

Across the 1538 Simulation games compared here, a typical one runs ≈ 32k–52k copies (est.), with Stardew Valley the biggest comparable game at ≈ 41.0M–66.6M. A small, self-selected sample, not the whole market.

The Simulation games gathered here span 2006 to 2026, a long track record.
Across the Simulation games gathered here the median price is $14.99, and the biggest charge more, around $20.

and 1478 more

Building a Simulation game? This genre already ran your experiment. Add the games yours will be compared to and see what's realistic, before you spend months on it.