The Game Census
Automation Empire cover art

Automation Empire

DOG HOGGLER · 2019-11-20

Steam

IndieSimulationStrategy

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

Releases: Nov 20, 2019 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Build and manage a massive industrial network of factories, mines, and farms. Employ a fleet of trains, trucks, and robotic drones. In the age of automation, efficiency is survival!

Automation Empire is an Indie, Simulation, and Strategy game released in 2019, priced at $29.99, with an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 owners and a Mixed review sentiment (66% of 2645 reviews).

22
playing now
66%
positive of 2.6k reviews
Mixed
steam's rating (official)
100,000–200,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
60/100
IGDB user rating (0 ratings)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$29.99
steam price (US)

22 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 14:00 UTC (census sample)

Health check

Quiet
  • · 22 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 22 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~3/week).
  • · Review velocity down 58% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Current weekly pace is under 5% of the all-time peak week (1,014 reviews).
  • · Top 6% of 49,704 Indie games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 66k–159k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 2,645 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $14.99 at Steam (2025-09-29)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $29.99 · on sale 3 of 6 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
72472420192026Week of 2019-11-01: 724 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 290 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 242 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 97 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 132 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 51 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 57 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 29 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 2 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

3392026-09-15 15:00 — 12 players2026-09-17 00:00 — 11 players2026-09-18 07:00 — 12 players2026-09-19 15:00 — 26 players2026-09-20 22:00 — 14 players2026-09-22 06:00 — 12 players2026-09-23 13:00 — 17 players2026-09-24 21:00 — 16 players2026-09-26 04:00 — 18 players2026-09-27 12:00 — 25 players2026-09-28 19:00 — 17 players2026-09-30 03:00 — 13 players2026-10-01 10:00 — 10 players2026-10-02 18:00 — 29 players2026-10-04 02:00 — 19 players2026-10-05 10:00 — 16 players2026-10-06 17:00 — 15 players2026-10-08 01:00 — 20 players2026-10-09 08:00 — 16 players2026-10-10 16:00 — 33 players2026-10-11 23:00 — 19 players2026-10-13 07:00 — 15 players2026-10-14 14:00 — 22 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
2.5k12Nov 2019Aug 2026Nov 2019 — avg 2,514 · peak 4,669Feb 2020 — avg 254 · peak 611May 2020 — avg 109 · peak 209Aug 2020 — avg 66 · peak 125Nov 2020 — avg 171 · peak 443Feb 2021 — avg 76 · peak 151May 2021 — avg 57 · peak 104Aug 2021 — avg 58 · peak 102Nov 2021 — avg 68 · peak 147Feb 2022 — avg 53 · peak 107May 2022 — avg 45 · peak 92Aug 2022 — avg 37 · peak 69Nov 2022 — avg 39 · peak 94Feb 2023 — avg 39 · peak 78May 2023 — avg 33 · peak 76Aug 2023 — avg 31 · peak 64Nov 2023 — avg 34 · peak 68Feb 2024 — avg 30 · peak 62May 2024 — avg 26 · peak 51Aug 2024 — avg 28 · peak 58Nov 2024 — avg 24 · peak 60Feb 2025 — avg 24 · peak 52May 2025 — avg 20 · peak 40Aug 2025 — avg 25 · peak 55Nov 2025 — avg 22 · peak 46Feb 2026 — avg 21 · peak 43May 2026 — avg 15 · peak 30Aug 2026 — avg 15 · peak 35
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$29.99$14.992019-11-202026-07-092019-11-20 — best price $26.992020-01-25 — best price $23.992020-06-25 — best price $23.992020-11-03 — best price $19.792020-11-25 — best price $19.792020-12-22 — best price $19.792021-06-24 — best price $19.792021-11-24 — best price $19.792021-12-22 — best price $19.792022-06-23 — best price $19.792022-11-22 — best price $19.792022-12-22 — best price $19.792023-06-29 — best price $19.792023-11-21 — best price $19.792023-12-21 — best price $19.792024-01-08 — best price $19.792024-06-27 — best price $19.792024-11-27 — best price $19.792024-12-19 — best price $19.792025-03-13 — best price $19.792025-06-26 — best price $19.792025-07-14 — best price $19.792025-09-29 — best price $14.992025-12-18 — best price $19.792026-03-19 — best price $19.792026-06-25 — best price $19.792026-07-09 — best price $29.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Completion

28
achievements tracked
6.4%
earned "Automation Master 1"
0.6%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsSingle-playerSteam AchievementsSteam CloudFamily Sharing

9 supported languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)846%28

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

IndieMiningTrainsEconomySandboxBuildingCraftingStrategyAutomationManagement

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Project AURASupreme Ruler UltimateTavern Tycoon - Dragon's HangoverAnother Brick in The MallStarship TheoryMashinkyRise of IndustryBronze Age - HD Edition

Similarity via IGDB.