Steam tag
Estimated revenue, market economics, and the top games tagged 4X on Steam.
Share of 4X games by estimated lifetime revenue. Averages hide this — a few hits pull the mean far above what a typical game in the genre makes.
For developers
Total estimated revenue of 4X games, grouped by the year they launched — a release-cohort trend, not a live time-series. Recent years are still accumulating revenue after launch.
Modeled estimate, not reported sales
| Year | Releases | Median rev | $100k+ | $1M+ | Total genre revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 89 | approximately $6.7K | approximately 19% | approximately 10% | approximately $57.6M |
| 2025 | 87 | approximately $2.5K | approximately 15% | approximately 6% | approximately $227.4M |
| 2024 | 79 | approximately $13.5K | approximately 29% | approximately 15% | approximately $253.6M |
| 2023 | 80 | approximately $7.2K | approximately 31% | approximately 9% | approximately $86.3M |
| 2022 | 55 | approximately $3.5K | approximately 29% | approximately 7% | approximately $21.5M |
| 2021 | 52 | approximately $12.4K | approximately 33% | approximately 15% | approximately $128M |
| 2020 | 29 | approximately $34.5K | approximately 41% | approximately 7% | approximately $13.2M |
| 2019 | 32 | approximately $12.3K | approximately 38% | approximately 16% | approximately $41.5M |
| 2018 | 22 | approximately $80.2K | approximately 45% | approximately 23% | approximately $115.8M |
| 2017 | 25 | approximately $22.1K | approximately 36% | approximately 24% | approximately $198.4M |
| 2016 | 21 | approximately $75.7K | approximately 48% | approximately 19% | approximately $594.4M |
| 2015 | 26 | approximately $145.1K | approximately 54% | approximately 23% | approximately $33M |
Median beats average here: genre revenue is hit-driven, so the median shows what the typical 4X launch actually earned. Recent years accumulate revenue for a while after launch.
Leaderboard
| # | Game | Est. revenue | Reviews | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | approximately $454.9M | 379.4K | 86% | $59.99 | |
| 2 | approximately $211.6M | 134.5K | 88% | $49.99 | |
| 3 | approximately $148.1M | 121.5K | 93% | $59.99 | |
| 4 | approximately $133.9M | 62.2K | 47% | $69.99 | |
| 5 | approximately $127.7M | 210.9K | 96% | $29.99 | |
| 6 | Manor LordsSteam | approximately $112M | 92K | 84% | $39.99 |
| 7 | StellarisSteam | approximately $76.8M | 196.9K | 86% | $14.99 |
| 8 | approximately $69.1M | 95.8K | 86% | $39.99 | |
| 9 | approximately $61.2M | 68.8K | 85% | $34.99 | |
| 10 | Total War: WARHAMMERSteam | approximately $55M | 32.1K | 79% | $59.99 |
| 11 | Europa Universalis VSteam | approximately $52.7M | 31.7K | 64% | $59.99 |
| 12 | X4: FoundationsSteam | approximately $45.9M | 30.3K | 80% | $49.99 |
| 13 | Against the StormSteam | approximately $37.6M | 37.6K | 94% | $29.99 |
| 14 | HUMANKIND™Steam | approximately $35.5M | 28.8K | 69% | $49.99 |
| 15 | approximately $34.4M | 27.4K | 91% | $39.99 | |
| 16 | Farthest FrontierSteam | approximately $33.4M | 25.6K | 86% | $34.99 |
| 17 | Frostpunk 2Steam | approximately $32.4M | 27.2K | 75% | $22.49 |
| 18 | Imperator: RomeSteam | approximately $29.2M | 26.8K | 66% | $39.99 |
| 19 | Age of Wonders 4Steam | approximately $24.4M | 23.1K | 81% | $24.99 |
| 20 | approximately $24M | 23.2K | 61% | $39.99 | |
| 21 | approximately $23.2M | 43.2K | 98% | $19.99 | |
| 22 | ENDLESS Space™ 2Steam | approximately $21.3M | 23.1K | 83% | $39.99 |
| 23 | approximately $19.6M | 36.5K | 96% | $19.99 | |
| 24 | approximately $18.8M | 19K | 94% | $29.99 | |
| 25 | Kingdoms and CastlesSteam | approximately $18.6M | 31.4K | 94% | $19.99 |
| 26 | approximately $17M | 22.9K | 87% | $39.99 | |
| 27 | approximately $16.6M | 14.2K | 88% | $34.99 | |
| 28 | approximately $16M | 8.8K | 84% | $49.99 | |
| 29 | Terra InvictaSteam | approximately $14.5M | 9.9K | 80% | $19.99 |
| 30 | approximately $12.1M | 16.4K | 93% | $19.99 | |
| 31 | Songs of ConquestSteam | approximately $10.5M | 12.1K | 86% | $29.99 |
| 32 | approximately $10.5M | 12.6K | 78% | $29.99 | |
| 33 | Age of Wonders IIISteam | approximately $10.3M | 13.3K | 77% | $29.99 |
| 34 | NorlandSteam | approximately $8.9M | 10.5K | 82% | $29.99 |
| 35 | approximately $8.1M | 10.4K | 77% | $29.99 | |
| 36 | Old WorldSteam | approximately $7.4M | 6.9K | 82% | $39.99 |
| 37 | Songs of SyxSteam | approximately $7M | 9.3K | 94% | $24.99 |
| 38 | ENDLESS Legend™ 2Steam | approximately $5.9M | 3.7K | 83% | $24.99 |
| 39 | Distant Worlds 2Steam | approximately $5.9M | 3.6K | 71% | $49.99 |
| 40 | Corsair CoveSteam | approximately $5.8M | 3.5K | 85% | $29.99 |
| 41 | Master of OrionSteam | approximately $5.3M | 8.2K | 77% | $24.99 |
| 42 | MillenniaSteam | approximately $4.8M | 3.8K | 67% | $39.99 |
| 43 | approximately $4.8M | 5.4K | 74% | $22.49 | |
| 44 | approximately $4.2M | 6.7K | 79% | $29.99 | |
| 45 | Star Trek: InfiniteSteam | approximately $4.1M | 3.5K | 43% | $29.99 |
| 46 | Dune: Spice WarsSteam | approximately $4M | 13.6K | 79% | $13.99 |
| 47 | approximately $4M | 3.6K | 73% | $34.99 | |
| 48 | approximately $3.9M | 2.3K | 69% | $49.99 | |
| 49 | ENDLESS Legend™Steam | approximately $3.7M | 19.1K | 83% | $7.49 |
| 50 | WhiskerwoodSteam | approximately $3.6M | 3.8K | 92% | $29.99 |