The Game Census
Crusader Kings II cover art

Crusader Kings II

Paradox Development Studio · Paradox Interactive · 2012-02-14

SteamGOG

RPGSimulationStrategyFree To Play

Modes: Single player, Multiplayer · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

Releases: Feb 03, 2012 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Feb 14, 2012 (Mac), Feb 14, 2012 (Linux)

Explore one of the defining periods in world history in an experience crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy.

Crusader Kings II is an RPG, Simulation, Strategy, Free To Play game released in 2012, priced at free-to-play, with an estimated 2,000,000 .. 5,000,000 owners and a Very Positive review sentiment (91% of 73941 reviews).

911
playing now
90%
positive of 74k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
2,000,000–5,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
0
twitch viewers (latest)
84/100
critic score (2 outlets, IGDB)
84/100
IGDB user rating (252 ratings)
234h
time to beat (IGDB)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
Free
steam price (US)

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

Crusader Kings II is a grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. Set in the Middle Ages, the game was released on February 14, 2012, as a sequel to 2004's Crusader Kings.

Trailer

Crusader Kings II trailer thumbnail

Crusader Kings II - Launch Trailer

≈446,602 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 911 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 4,876 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~610/week).
  • · Review velocity up 302% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 1% of 14,095 RPG games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-28

Current store prices

GOG$0.00

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $2.49 at GreenManGaming (2019-12-13) · bundled 22×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $0.00 · on sale 49 of 49 observed days · at its all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
4.6k4.6k20182026Week of 2018-03-01: 188 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 38 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 1,373 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 484 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 559 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 165 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 381 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 111 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 305 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 79 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 240 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 56 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 305 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 58 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 212 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 54 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 3,782 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 128 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 384 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 61 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 241 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 70 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 309 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 57 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 232 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 445 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 81 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 347 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 58 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 1,715 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 92 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 1,895 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 69 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 234 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 199 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 1,456 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 491 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 4,605 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 197 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 2,036 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 113 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 1,400 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 120 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 1,076 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 79 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 1,261 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 108 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 1,315 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 110 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 1,237 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 145 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 938 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 83 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 898 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 73 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 951 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 77 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 976 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 141 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 500 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 77 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 658 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 58 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 540 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 69 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 501 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 62 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 453 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 102 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 475 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 59 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 423 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 49 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 434 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 57 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 387 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 56 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 402 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 67 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 412 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 62 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 345 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 57 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 355 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 406 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 418 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 47 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 345 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 60 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 312 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 325 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 51 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 293 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 302 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 271 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 34 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 289 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 248 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 283 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 38 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 258 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 326 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 259 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 264 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 29 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 240 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 249 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 215 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 227 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 227 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 244 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 34 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 209 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 174 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 172 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 253 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 34 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 213 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 223 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 209 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 243 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 131 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 199 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 182 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 194 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 209 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 169 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 151 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 29 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 158 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 261 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 1,076 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 129 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 142 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 140 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 143 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 79 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 124 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 142 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 129 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 155 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 23 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 130 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 140 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 116 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 141 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 23 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 126 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 116 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 146 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 150 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 129 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 108 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 99 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 141 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 144 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2026-09-01: 113 positiveWeek of 2026-09-01: 3,687 negativeWeek of 2026-10-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2026-10-01: 74 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

1.8k6622026-09-16 04:00 — 819 players2026-09-17 11:00 — 866 players2026-09-18 19:00 — 1,525 players2026-09-20 02:00 — 1,138 players2026-09-21 10:00 — 843 players2026-09-22 18:00 — 1,396 players2026-09-24 01:00 — 989 players2026-09-25 09:00 — 797 players2026-09-26 16:00 — 1,656 players2026-09-28 00:00 — 1,175 players2026-09-29 07:00 — 662 players2026-09-30 15:00 — 1,206 players2026-10-01 22:00 — 1,174 players2026-10-03 06:00 — 895 players2026-10-04 14:00 — 1,577 players2026-10-05 21:00 — 1,278 players2026-10-07 05:00 — 675 players2026-10-08 12:00 — 956 players2026-10-09 20:00 — 1,569 players2026-10-11 03:00 — 1,042 players2026-10-12 11:00 — 926 players2026-10-13 19:00 — 1,468 players2026-10-15 02:00 — 911 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
10k1.1kJul 2012Aug 2026Jul 2012 — avg 2,106 · peak 3,703Dec 2012 — avg 1,857 · peak 4,011May 2013 — avg 2,097 · peak 8,146Oct 2013 — avg 1,771 · peak 3,385Mar 2014 — avg 3,280 · peak 9,095Aug 2014 — avg 3,181 · peak 5,715Jan 2015 — avg 4,157 · peak 7,942Jun 2015 — avg 3,897 · peak 7,266Nov 2015 — avg 3,414 · peak 6,403Apr 2016 — avg 3,563 · peak 6,477Sep 2016 — avg 4,703 · peak 10,106Feb 2017 — avg 3,902 · peak 7,173Jul 2017 — avg 4,162 · peak 7,243Dec 2017 — avg 5,218 · peak 8,885May 2018 — avg 5,621 · peak 10,316Oct 2018 — avg 4,328 · peak 7,828Mar 2019 — avg 5,646 · peak 9,735Aug 2019 — avg 6,426 · peak 10,967Jan 2020 — avg 7,194 · peak 12,468Jun 2020 — avg 6,944 · peak 11,677Nov 2020 — avg 3,540 · peak 5,663Apr 2021 — avg 3,285 · peak 5,280Sep 2021 — avg 2,835 · peak 4,473Feb 2022 — avg 2,865 · peak 4,629Jul 2022 — avg 2,556 · peak 3,885Dec 2022 — avg 2,495 · peak 3,787May 2023 — avg 2,250 · peak 3,565Oct 2023 — avg 1,921 · peak 3,151Mar 2024 — avg 1,905 · peak 2,966Aug 2024 — avg 2,135 · peak 3,289Jan 2025 — avg 1,548 · peak 2,538Jun 2025 — avg 1,355 · peak 2,168Nov 2025 — avg 1,391 · peak 2,329Apr 2026 — avg 1,287 · peak 2,095Aug 2026 — avg 1,355 · peak 2,063
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Chart history

PositiveNegative
97972026-09-222026-10-142026-09-22: 1 new positive2026-09-22: 1 new negative2026-09-23: 6 new negative2026-10-09: 39 new positive2026-10-09: 97 new negative2026-10-10: 6 new negative2026-10-11: 7 new negative2026-10-12: 7 new positive2026-10-12: 8 new negative2026-10-13: 1 new positive2026-10-13: 5 new negative2026-10-14: 2 new positive2026-10-14: 9 new negative
New Steam reviews per day (census review snapshots). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$47.65$0.002015-01-012026-10-152015-01-01 — best price $9.762015-02-16 — best price $9.992015-03-27 — best price $39.992015-05-10 — best price $39.992015-07-06 — best price $9.992015-09-09 — best price $39.992015-11-16 — best price $39.992015-12-27 — best price $36.952016-02-12 — best price $7.892016-03-28 — best price $9.992016-05-14 — best price $9.992016-06-24 — best price $34.762016-08-02 — best price $9.882016-09-10 — best price $39.992016-11-29 — best price $32.262017-03-03 — best price $10.002017-04-25 — best price $39.952017-07-11 — best price $39.992017-08-26 — best price $35.992017-10-26 — best price $9.992017-12-06 — best price $39.992018-01-20 — best price $35.992018-03-29 — best price $9.242018-04-23 — best price $33.252018-06-18 — best price $10.002018-08-02 — best price $39.992018-09-20 — best price $10.002018-11-06 — best price $35.992018-12-10 — best price $33.042019-01-26 — best price $39.992019-03-05 — best price $39.992019-04-24 — best price $39.992019-06-14 — best price $9.992019-07-22 — best price $7.992019-09-14 — best price $37.992026-08-29 — best price $0.002026-09-18 — best price $0.002026-10-08 — best price $0.002026-10-15 — best price $0.00
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

173662026-05-30 — 99 pageviews2026-06-03 — 89 pageviews2026-06-07 — 106 pageviews2026-06-11 — 99 pageviews2026-06-15 — 120 pageviews2026-06-19 — 77 pageviews2026-06-23 — 75 pageviews2026-06-27 — 96 pageviews2026-07-01 — 98 pageviews2026-07-05 — 109 pageviews2026-07-09 — 97 pageviews2026-07-13 — 80 pageviews2026-07-17 — 81 pageviews2026-07-21 — 92 pageviews2026-07-25 — 85 pageviews2026-07-29 — 115 pageviews2026-08-02 — 90 pageviews2026-08-06 — 122 pageviews2026-08-10 — 91 pageviews2026-08-14 — 109 pageviews2026-08-18 — 93 pageviews2026-08-22 — 118 pageviews2026-08-26 — 115 pageviews2026-08-30 — 99 pageviews2026-09-03 — 89 pageviews2026-09-07 — 87 pageviews2026-09-11 — 84 pageviews2026-09-15 — 109 pageviews2026-09-19 — 87 pageviews2026-09-23 — 142 pageviews2026-09-27 — 77 pageviews2026-10-01 — 120 pageviews2026-10-05 — 79 pageviews2026-10-09 — 79 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

602026-10-01 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 — 0 viewers2026-10-05 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-05 18:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-06 03:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-06 12:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-06 21:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-07 06:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-07 15:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-08 00:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-08 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-08 18:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-09 03:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-09 12:34 — 5 viewers2026-10-09 21:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-10 06:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-10 15:34 — 2 viewers2026-10-11 00:34 — 0 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 — 0 viewers2026-10-13 06:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-13 15:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-14 00:34 — 2 viewers2026-10-14 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-14 18:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-15 03:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-15 12:35 — 0 viewers2026-10-15 14:34 — 0 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Completion

60+
achievements tracked
14.5%
earned "The Marriage Game"
3.4%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerMulti-playerSteam Trading CardsFamily Sharing32 DLC

4 supported languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain

Post-launch support: 32 DLC released, first 2012-04-18, latest 2021-02-18 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)18,8633%161

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

RPGSandboxMedievalModdablePoliticsStrategyDiplomacyHistoricalSimulationMultiplayer

Census log

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

Players also track

Knights of HonorEuropa Universalis IVHearthlandsBattle BrothersJudgment: Apocalypse Survival SimulationLife is Feudal: Forest VillageMashinky

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗