The Game Census
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game cover art

Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game

Camshaft Software Ltd · 2015-03-12

Steam

IndieRacingSimulationStrategyEarly Access

Modes: Single player, Multiplayer · Perspectives: Third person

Releases: Mar 12, 2015 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Make your dream cars a reality with Automation’s unparalleled car and engine design tools. Gain a competitive edge through smart engineering and business decisions to help you build an automotive empire. Will you become an industry leader, or just a footnote in automotive history?

Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game is an Indie, Racing, Simulation, and Strategy game released in 2015, priced at $29.99, with an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 owners and a Very Positive review sentiment (94% of 17,989 reviews).

320
playing now
94%
positive of 18k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
500,000–1,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
0
twitch viewers (latest)
77/100
IGDB user rating (5 ratings)
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$29.99
steam price (US)

320 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 11:00 UTC (census sample)

Automation: The Car Company Tycoon Game, commonly known simply as Automation, is a simulation video game developed by New Zealand-based developer Camshaft Software for Microsoft Windows that allows the player to create and run a virtual car company and design vehicles to sell. It is currently available via Steam.

Health check

Healthy
  • · 320 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 1,867 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~233/week).
  • · Review velocity down 4% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 2% of 49,548 Indie games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-29

Estimated sales: 454k–1.1M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 18,155 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $22.49 at Steam (2024-09-16)via IsThereAnyDeal

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

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
37237220182026Week of 2018-01-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 109 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 113 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 44 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 42 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 54 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 126 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 148 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 64 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 322 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 247 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 198 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 157 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 201 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 185 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 157 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 139 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 144 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 145 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 117 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 137 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 230 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 238 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 201 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 215 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 186 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 132 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 111 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 116 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 163 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 125 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 109 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 107 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 97 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 194 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 183 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 146 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 113 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 116 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 121 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 148 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 126 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 150 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 131 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 139 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 140 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 266 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 173 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 147 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 157 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 121 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 103 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 109 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 155 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 132 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 133 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 134 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 146 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 166 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 186 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 155 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 160 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 189 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 145 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 161 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 204 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 164 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 172 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 200 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 251 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 372 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 335 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 183 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 224 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 214 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 153 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 243 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 304 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 250 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 219 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 227 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 233 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 312 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 287 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 196 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 204 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 168 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 194 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 204 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 204 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 145 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 15 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

7642402026-09-15 12:00 — 355 players2026-09-16 20:00 — 472 players2026-09-18 04:00 — 297 players2026-09-19 11:00 — 447 players2026-09-20 19:00 — 737 players2026-09-22 03:00 — 394 players2026-09-23 10:00 — 322 players2026-09-24 18:00 — 568 players2026-09-26 01:00 — 511 players2026-09-27 09:00 — 407 players2026-09-28 16:00 — 545 players2026-09-30 00:00 — 488 players2026-10-01 07:00 — 240 players2026-10-02 15:00 — 510 players2026-10-03 22:00 — 617 players2026-10-05 06:00 — 289 players2026-10-06 14:00 — 463 players2026-10-07 21:00 — 498 players2026-10-09 05:00 — 303 players2026-10-10 12:00 — 549 players2026-10-11 20:00 — 672 players2026-10-13 04:00 — 339 players2026-10-14 11:00 — 320 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
68049Mar 2015Aug 2026Mar 2015 — avg 179 · peak 390Jul 2015 — avg 74 · peak 160Nov 2015 — avg 59 · peak 149Mar 2016 — avg 74 · peak 150Jul 2016 — avg 67 · peak 122Nov 2016 — avg 79 · peak 143Mar 2017 — avg 63 · peak 127Jul 2017 — avg 64 · peak 153Nov 2017 — avg 49 · peak 112Mar 2018 — avg 73 · peak 136Jul 2018 — avg 337 · peak 1,235Nov 2018 — avg 184 · peak 377Mar 2019 — avg 329 · peak 622Jul 2019 — avg 241 · peak 400Nov 2019 — avg 259 · peak 466Mar 2020 — avg 356 · peak 703Jul 2020 — avg 328 · peak 510Nov 2020 — avg 374 · peak 680Mar 2021 — avg 391 · peak 675Jul 2021 — avg 320 · peak 541Nov 2021 — avg 243 · peak 426Mar 2022 — avg 273 · peak 481Jul 2022 — avg 322 · peak 512Nov 2022 — avg 357 · peak 671Mar 2023 — avg 388 · peak 706Jul 2023 — avg 396 · peak 654Nov 2023 — avg 371 · peak 667Mar 2024 — avg 492 · peak 858Jul 2024 — avg 469 · peak 842Nov 2024 — avg 529 · peak 888Mar 2025 — avg 506 · peak 869Jul 2025 — avg 608 · peak 947Nov 2025 — avg 512 · peak 844Mar 2026 — avg 537 · peak 919Jul 2026 — avg 471 · peak 786Aug 2026 — avg 456 · peak 734
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Chart history

PositiveNegative
30302026-09-212026-10-142026-09-21: 30 new positive2026-09-21: 3 new negative2026-09-22: 1 new positive2026-09-22: 1 new negative2026-09-23: 5 new positive2026-09-25: 6 new positive2026-09-26: 1 new positive2026-09-26: 1 new negative2026-09-27: 5 new positive2026-10-01: 8 new positive2026-10-01: 3 new negative2026-10-02: 2 new positive2026-10-03: 9 new positive2026-10-04: 15 new positive2026-10-05: 11 new positive2026-10-06: 6 new positive2026-10-07: 6 new positive2026-10-08: 7 new positive2026-10-08: 1 new negative2026-10-09: 4 new positive2026-10-10: 10 new positive2026-10-11: 6 new positive2026-10-12: 3 new positive2026-10-13: 8 new positive2026-10-14: 3 new positive
New Steam reviews per day (census review snapshots). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$29.99$22.492015-03-122026-07-092015-03-12 — best price $26.992015-06-15 — best price $25.492015-11-25 — best price $25.492016-01-04 — best price $29.992016-06-23 — best price $26.992016-11-29 — best price $29.992017-06-22 — best price $26.992017-11-28 — best price $29.992018-02-15 — best price $25.492018-07-05 — best price $29.992018-11-21 — best price $25.492019-01-04 — best price $29.992019-06-26 — best price $25.492019-08-30 — best price $29.992019-11-26 — best price $25.492020-01-02 — best price $29.992020-06-25 — best price $25.492020-12-01 — best price $29.992021-02-11 — best price $25.492021-07-08 — best price $29.992021-12-22 — best price $23.992022-02-03 — best price $29.992022-06-23 — best price $23.992022-11-29 — best price $29.992022-12-22 — best price $23.992023-03-23 — best price $29.992023-08-28 — best price $23.992023-11-28 — best price $29.992024-01-08 — best price $23.992024-03-21 — best price $29.992024-09-16 — best price $22.492024-12-04 — best price $29.992025-03-13 — best price $22.492025-07-10 — best price $29.992025-12-18 — best price $22.492026-03-26 — best price $29.992026-07-09 — best price $29.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

72132026-06-02 — 62 pageviews2026-06-06 — 44 pageviews2026-06-10 — 35 pageviews2026-06-14 — 26 pageviews2026-06-18 — 51 pageviews2026-06-22 — 34 pageviews2026-06-26 — 41 pageviews2026-06-30 — 25 pageviews2026-07-04 — 36 pageviews2026-07-08 — 35 pageviews2026-07-12 — 21 pageviews2026-07-16 — 26 pageviews2026-07-20 — 19 pageviews2026-07-24 — 26 pageviews2026-07-28 — 28 pageviews2026-08-01 — 25 pageviews2026-08-05 — 33 pageviews2026-08-09 — 24 pageviews2026-08-13 — 18 pageviews2026-08-17 — 27 pageviews2026-08-21 — 32 pageviews2026-08-25 — 13 pageviews2026-08-29 — 19 pageviews2026-09-02 — 23 pageviews2026-09-06 — 23 pageviews2026-09-10 — 19 pageviews2026-09-14 — 22 pageviews2026-09-18 — 28 pageviews2026-09-22 — 26 pageviews2026-09-26 — 31 pageviews2026-09-30 — 20 pageviews2026-10-04 — 27 pageviews2026-10-08 — 25 pageviews2026-10-12 — 21 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

1702026-09-30 21:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-01 06:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-01 15:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-02 00:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-02 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-02 18:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-03 03:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-03 12:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-03 21:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-04 06:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-04 15:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-05 00:34 — 2 viewers2026-10-05 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-05 18:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-06 03:34 — 2 viewers2026-10-06 12:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-06 21:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-07 06:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-07 15:34 — 17 viewers2026-10-08 00:34 — 4 viewers2026-10-08 09:34 — 1 viewers2026-10-08 18:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-09 03:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-09 12:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-09 21:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-10 06:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-10 15:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-11 00:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-11 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-11 18:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-12 03:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-12 12:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-12 21:34 — 9 viewers2026-10-13 06:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-13 15:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-14 00:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-14 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-14 18:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-14 20:34 — 0 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Details

WindowsSingle-playerMulti-playerPvPOnline PvPSteam WorkshopSteam CloudFamily Sharing3 DLC

12 supported languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Polish, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese - Brazil, Portuguese - Portugal, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Turkish

Post-launch support: 3 DLC released, first 2015-03-30, latest 2020-02-12 (Steam store data)

Where its players are

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

Player tags

IndieRacingEconomySandboxBuildingCraftingModdableStrategyEducationRealistic

Census log

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

Recent updates

Players also track

TransOcean: The Shipping CompanyRimWorldHearthlandsSoftware Inc.Judgment: Apocalypse Survival SimulationPlanet CoasterAnother Brick in The MallJunkyard Simulator

Similarity via IGDB.

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