The Game Census
Cities: Skylines cover art

Cities: Skylines

Colossal Order · Paradox Interactive · 2015-03-10

SteamPlayStation StoreEpic Games StoreAmazonMicrosoft StoreGame Pass

SimulationStrategy

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

Releases: May 17, 2022 (Google Stadia), Mar 10, 2015 (Linux), Mar 10, 2015 (Mac), Mar 10, 2015 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Cities: Skylines is a modern take on the classic city simulation. The game introduces new game play elements to realize the thrill and hardships of creating and maintaining a real city whilst expanding on some well-established tropes of the city building experience.

Cities: Skylines is a Simulation, Strategy game released in 2015, priced at $8.99, with an estimated 10,000,000 .. 20,000,000 owners and a Very Positive review sentiment (93% of 292316 reviews).

5,210
playing now
93%
positive of 291k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
10,000,000–20,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
0
twitch viewers (latest)
76/100
critic score (13 outlets, IGDB)
80/100
IGDB user rating (699 ratings)
194
Nexus mods (2.2M downloads)
4.05★
PlayStation Store rating (29,119 ratings)
83/100
opencritic · strong · 83% recommend · from 91 critics
114h
to beat · rushed 16h
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$8.99
steam price (US)

5,210 players in-game as of 2026-10-15 02:00 UTC (census sample)

Cities: Skylines is a 2015 city-building game developed by Colossal Order and published by Paradox Interactive. The game is a single-player open-ended city-building simulation. Players engage in urban planning by controlling zoning, road placement, taxation, public services, and public transportation of an area. They also work to manage various elements of the city, including its budget, health, employment, traffic, and pollution levels. It is also possible to maintain a city in a sandbox mode, which provides more creative freedom for the player.

Trailer

Cities: Skylines trailer thumbnail

Official Release Trailer | OUT NOW I Cities: Skylines II

≈1,000,000 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 5,210 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 16,104 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~2,013/week).
  • · Review velocity up 104% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 1% of 16,739 Simulation games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 7.3M–17M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 291,080 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Fanatical$8.69-71%
Microsoft Store$39.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $2.39 at MacGameStore (2021-12-25) · bundled 10×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $39.99 · on sale 101 of 109 observed days · $6.30 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
7.0k7.0k20182026Week of 2018-03-01: 555 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 54 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 394 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 61 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 821 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 131 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 725 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 77 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 587 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 73 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 439 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 71 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 612 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 103 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 830 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 117 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 2,891 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 105 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 694 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 90 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 588 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 74 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 572 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 76 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 681 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 90 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 497 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 68 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 646 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 93 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 2,435 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 96 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 3,171 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 138 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 335 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 49 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 305 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 889 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 73 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 5,528 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 167 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 3,805 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 156 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 3,298 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 494 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 2,435 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 237 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 4,331 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 349 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 4,364 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 305 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 2,812 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 213 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 2,095 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 143 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 2,496 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 181 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 2,234 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 167 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 1,829 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 137 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 1,599 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 108 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 3,231 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 170 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 3,058 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 185 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 2,968 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 168 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 2,724 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 171 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 2,177 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 139 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 1,820 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 106 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 2,738 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 171 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 2,123 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 171 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 2,350 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 181 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 1,822 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 117 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 1,946 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 133 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 1,655 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 105 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 2,277 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 139 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 2,323 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 142 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 2,887 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 242 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 2,412 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 162 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 2,448 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 178 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 1,921 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 113 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 1,977 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 155 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 1,712 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 109 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 2,196 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 181 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 1,784 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 115 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 2,053 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 262 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 1,492 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 198 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 2,992 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 234 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 2,725 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 262 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 2,986 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 246 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 1,920 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 177 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 2,452 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 238 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 1,558 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 163 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 2,148 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 246 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 2,187 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 202 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 2,500 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 196 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 1,656 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 145 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 2,364 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 211 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 1,813 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 158 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 1,765 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 106 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 1,188 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 116 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 1,304 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 125 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 1,020 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 100 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 1,058 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 108 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 897 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 84 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 1,341 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 119 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 1,039 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 110 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 1,411 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 112 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 935 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 84 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 759 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 70 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 932 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 97 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 1,575 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 125 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 2,740 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 233 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 1,259 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 118 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 910 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 365 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 2,337 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 560 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 1,370 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 130 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 1,070 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 108 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 967 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 88 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 1,194 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 108 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 876 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 80 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 720 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 82 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 856 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 82 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 808 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 65 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 868 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 82 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 936 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 70 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 695 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 63 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 2,283 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 303 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 876 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 102 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 930 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 99 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 952 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 115 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 922 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 83 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 970 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 99 negativeWeek of 2026-09-01: 628 positiveWeek of 2026-09-01: 6,984 negativeWeek of 2026-10-01: 338 positiveWeek of 2026-10-01: 257 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

13k4.6k2026-09-15 11:00 — 7,526 players2026-09-16 19:00 — 6,235 players2026-09-18 03:00 — 5,389 players2026-09-19 10:00 — 9,316 players2026-09-20 18:00 — 8,697 players2026-09-22 02:00 — 5,344 players2026-09-23 09:00 — 6,343 players2026-09-24 17:00 — 8,081 players2026-09-26 00:00 — 5,498 players2026-09-27 08:00 — 9,072 players2026-09-28 15:00 — 8,903 players2026-09-29 23:00 — 4,551 players2026-10-01 06:00 — 6,181 players2026-10-02 14:00 — 10,504 players2026-10-03 21:00 — 7,283 players2026-10-05 05:00 — 7,124 players2026-10-06 13:00 — 10,193 players2026-10-07 20:00 — 6,164 players2026-10-09 04:00 — 6,090 players2026-10-10 11:00 — 10,436 players2026-10-11 19:00 — 8,493 players2026-10-13 03:00 — 5,724 players2026-10-14 10:00 — 6,948 players2026-10-15 02:00 — 5,210 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
26k1Aug 2014Aug 2026Aug 2014 — avg 1 · peak 5Jun 2015 — avg 6,294 · peak 14,130Oct 2015 — avg 6,540 · peak 18,437Feb 2016 — avg 8,513 · peak 27,598Jun 2016 — avg 6,238 · peak 15,212Oct 2016 — avg 5,954 · peak 13,438Feb 2017 — avg 6,617 · peak 13,601Jun 2017 — avg 8,374 · peak 16,585Oct 2017 — avg 8,425 · peak 22,277Feb 2018 — avg 9,653 · peak 22,256Jun 2018 — avg 9,073 · peak 17,022Oct 2018 — avg 10,751 · peak 29,398Feb 2019 — avg 10,082 · peak 19,479Jun 2019 — avg 11,110 · peak 18,494Oct 2019 — avg 10,214 · peak 22,798Feb 2020 — avg 12,227 · peak 20,535Jun 2020 — avg 12,139 · peak 21,358Oct 2020 — avg 12,439 · peak 20,924Feb 2021 — avg 17,733 · peak 30,126Jun 2021 — avg 15,205 · peak 25,552Oct 2021 — avg 12,761 · peak 23,442Feb 2022 — avg 19,499 · peak 31,829Jun 2022 — avg 14,816 · peak 23,824Oct 2022 — avg 14,118 · peak 24,733Feb 2023 — avg 19,587 · peak 34,225Jun 2023 — avg 18,286 · peak 30,072Oct 2023 — avg 15,358 · peak 27,464Feb 2024 — avg 8,805 · peak 15,649Jun 2024 — avg 10,290 · peak 18,191Oct 2024 — avg 9,018 · peak 22,471Feb 2025 — avg 8,909 · peak 14,969Jun 2025 — avg 8,873 · peak 15,455Oct 2025 — avg 8,670 · peak 16,037Feb 2026 — avg 7,707 · peak 12,779Jun 2026 — avg 8,276 · peak 14,422Aug 2026 — avg 8,173 · peak 14,026
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$39.99$0.002015-02-112026-10-142015-02-11 — best price $27.492015-07-20 — best price $29.992015-12-07 — best price $25.012016-03-30 — best price $11.992016-08-01 — best price $10.322017-02-24 — best price $29.992017-09-15 — best price $29.992018-02-12 — best price $7.502018-06-21 — best price $7.492018-10-18 — best price $7.502019-01-28 — best price $29.992019-05-25 — best price $14.892019-09-17 — best price $6.752020-01-02 — best price $29.992020-03-26 — best price $0.002020-06-17 — best price $26.282020-09-21 — best price $7.492020-12-10 — best price $29.992021-03-13 — best price $3.292021-06-05 — best price $29.992021-10-07 — best price $29.992022-01-26 — best price $3.692022-06-14 — best price $7.492022-09-27 — best price $8.992023-01-11 — best price $25.492023-05-16 — best price $25.462023-10-18 — best price $29.992024-03-25 — best price $22.492024-09-10 — best price $28.652024-12-24 — best price $7.892025-04-27 — best price $8.402025-12-01 — best price $9.002026-07-13 — best price $8.102026-10-14 — best price $39.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

1.9k2922026-05-28 — 455 pageviews2026-06-01 — 436 pageviews2026-06-05 — 337 pageviews2026-06-09 — 355 pageviews2026-06-13 — 361 pageviews2026-06-17 — 354 pageviews2026-06-21 — 421 pageviews2026-06-25 — 380 pageviews2026-06-29 — 429 pageviews2026-07-03 — 371 pageviews2026-07-07 — 368 pageviews2026-07-11 — 337 pageviews2026-07-15 — 453 pageviews2026-07-19 — 358 pageviews2026-07-23 — 355 pageviews2026-07-27 — 384 pageviews2026-07-31 — 344 pageviews2026-08-04 — 303 pageviews2026-08-08 — 321 pageviews2026-08-12 — 292 pageviews2026-08-16 — 428 pageviews2026-08-20 — 323 pageviews2026-08-24 — 444 pageviews2026-08-28 — 627 pageviews2026-09-01 — 490 pageviews2026-09-05 — 413 pageviews2026-09-09 — 454 pageviews2026-09-13 — 414 pageviews2026-09-17 — 387 pageviews2026-09-21 — 381 pageviews2026-09-25 — 380 pageviews2026-09-29 — 342 pageviews2026-10-03 — 371 pageviews2026-10-07 — 444 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

2.0k02026-10-01 05:34 — 19 viewers2026-10-01 14:34 — 21 viewers2026-10-01 23:34 — 5 viewers2026-10-02 08:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-02 17:34 — 11 viewers2026-10-03 02:34 — 24 viewers2026-10-03 11:34 — 9 viewers2026-10-03 20:34 — 34 viewers2026-10-04 05:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-04 14:34 — 12 viewers2026-10-04 23:34 — 9 viewers2026-10-05 08:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-05 17:34 — 42 viewers2026-10-06 02:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-06 11:34 — 7 viewers2026-10-06 20:34 — 13 viewers2026-10-07 05:34 — 5 viewers2026-10-07 14:34 — 31 viewers2026-10-07 23:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-08 08:34 — 4 viewers2026-10-08 17:34 — 9 viewers2026-10-09 02:34 — 25 viewers2026-10-09 11:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-09 20:35 — 0 viewers2026-10-10 05:34 — 145 viewers2026-10-10 14:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-10 23:34 — 15 viewers2026-10-11 08:34 — 5 viewers2026-10-11 17:34 — 15 viewers2026-10-12 02:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-12 11:34 — 5 viewers2026-10-12 20:34 — 40 viewers2026-10-13 05:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-13 14:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-13 23:34 — 7 viewers2026-10-14 08:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-14 17:34 — 24 viewers2026-10-15 02:34 — 5 viewers2026-10-15 04:34 — 0 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Completion

60+
achievements tracked
74.2%
earned "Pioneer"
4.9%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerSteam AchievementsSteam Trading CardsSteam WorkshopSteam CloudIncludes level editorRemote Play on TabletFamily Sharing76 DLC

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

Post-launch support: 76 DLC released, first 2015-03-01, latest 2026-03-10 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)142,7390%135
PS4 (PlayStation)67,5630%128
Xbox One, Windows (Xbox)44,8480%130
PS4 (PlayStation)1,0771%128

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

ModCasualModernEconomySandboxBuildingModdableStrategyRealisticManagement

Census log

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

Recent updates

Players also track

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Similarity via IGDB.

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