The Game Census
Crusader Kings III cover art

Crusader Kings III

Paradox Development Studio · Paradox Interactive · 2020-09-01

SteamPlayStation StoreAmazonMicrosoft Store

RPGSimulationStrategy

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

Releases: Mar 29, 2022 (PlayStation 5), Mar 29, 2022 (Xbox Series X|S), Sep 01, 2020 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Sep 01, 2020 (Mac), Sep 01, 2020 (Linux)

Love, fight, scheme, and claim greatness. Determine your noble house’s legacy in the sprawling grand strategy of Crusader Kings III. Death is only the beginning as you guide your dynasty’s bloodline in the rich and larger-than-life simulation of the Middle Ages.

Crusader Kings III is an RPG, Simulation, Strategy game released in 2020, priced at $49.99, with an owner estimate of 2,000,000 .. 5,000,000 and a review sentiment of Very Positive (90% of 142430 reviews).

19,085
playing now
90%
positive of 142k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
2,000,000–5,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
89
twitch viewers (latest)
12.7
viewers/channel (concentration)
91/100
critic score (3 outlets, IGDB)
83/100
IGDB user rating (197 ratings)
229
Nexus mods (988k downloads)
3.94★
PlayStation Store rating (9,067 ratings)
90/100
opencritic · mighty · 99% recommend · from 94 critics
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$49.99
steam price (US)

19,085 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 22:00 UTC (census sample)

Crusader Kings III is a grand strategy role-playing video game set in the Middle Ages, developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive as a sequel to Crusader Kings (2004) and Crusader Kings II (2012), featuring similar gameplay, centred around historical bloodlines and dynasties. The game was released on PC on 1 September 2020 and on the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 on 29 March 2022 in most regions. The game received favourable critical attention, and has sold over 4 million copies as of April 2025.

Trailer

Crusader Kings III trailer thumbnail

Crusader Kings III - Release Trailer

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

Health check

Thriving
  • · 19,085 players in-game right now — a Steam top-100 title.
  • · 12,578 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~1,572/week).
  • · Review velocity up 40% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 1% of 13,905 RPG games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-10-01

Tier history: healthy→thriving (Oct 1), thriving→healthy (Sep 29), healthy→thriving (Sep 28), thriving→healthy (Sep 26), healthy→thriving (Sep 20), thriving→healthy (Sep 18), healthy→thriving (Sep 17), thriving→healthy (Sep 16), healthy→thriving (Sep 15), thriving→healthy (Sep 15)

Estimated sales: 2.8M–6.4M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 142,292 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GreenManGaming$13.20-74%
Gamesplanet$14.26-71%
Steam$14.99-70%
GameBillet$15.00-70%
Microsoft Store$49.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $12.60 at AllYouPlay (2025-11-28) · bundled 1×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $49.99 · on sale 84 of 109 observed days · $2.39 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
15k15k20202026Week of 2020-09-01: 15,351 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 1,155 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 2,948 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 273 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 6,917 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 200 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 2,309 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 155 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 1,640 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 117 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 1,165 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 105 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 1,636 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 149 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 985 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 89 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 1,151 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 120 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 1,120 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 90 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 1,099 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 72 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 977 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 107 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 888 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 100 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 752 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 91 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 1,181 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 91 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 1,008 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 102 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 1,040 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 98 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 1,770 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 255 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 992 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 101 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 870 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 82 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 927 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 92 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 925 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 112 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 818 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 98 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 734 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 121 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 953 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 249 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 692 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 94 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 908 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 79 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 836 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 86 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 787 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 84 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 544 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 82 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 613 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 86 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 661 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 94 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 1,297 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 185 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 733 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 107 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 954 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 128 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 719 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 91 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 524 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 82 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 529 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 71 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 1,386 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 130 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 752 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 105 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 756 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 142 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 668 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 94 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 1,105 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 240 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 559 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 122 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 855 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 181 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 650 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 104 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 811 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 153 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 692 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 99 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 1,073 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 198 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 802 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 128 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 1,472 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 142 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 1,222 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 129 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 954 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 144 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 734 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 540 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 1,126 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 447 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 708 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 177 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 1,023 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 384 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 654 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 143 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 837 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 167 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 771 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 128 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 660 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 160 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 938 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 232 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 2,183 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 286 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 806 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 135 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 789 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 125 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 572 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 80 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 881 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 154 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 816 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 158 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 797 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 139 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 638 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 82 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 811 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 112 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 809 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 154 negativeWeek of 2026-09-01: 654 positiveWeek of 2026-09-01: 5,721 negativeWeek of 2026-10-01: 354 positiveWeek of 2026-10-01: 269 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

36k11k2026-09-14 23:00 — 15,385 players2026-09-16 09:00 — 12,099 players2026-09-17 03:00 — 12,447 players2026-09-17 18:00 — 20,457 players2026-09-20 06:00 — 14,253 players2026-09-20 21:00 — 22,007 players2026-09-21 12:00 — 16,207 players2026-09-22 03:00 — 12,907 players2026-09-22 18:00 — 20,483 players2026-09-23 09:00 — 12,077 players2026-09-24 00:00 — 13,542 players2026-09-24 15:00 — 19,947 players2026-09-25 06:00 — 11,983 players2026-09-25 21:00 — 19,301 players2026-09-28 09:00 — 11,746 players2026-09-29 00:00 — 13,116 players2026-10-01 12:00 — 20,359 players2026-10-02 03:00 — 17,060 players2026-10-02 18:00 — 27,713 players2026-10-03 09:00 — 23,076 players2026-10-04 00:00 — 21,415 players2026-10-04 15:00 — 35,865 players2026-10-05 06:00 — 16,310 players2026-10-05 21:00 — 23,364 players2026-10-06 12:00 — 20,754 players2026-10-07 03:00 — 17,062 players2026-10-07 18:00 — 25,353 players2026-10-08 09:00 — 15,492 players2026-10-09 00:00 — 16,876 players2026-10-09 15:00 — 27,969 players2026-10-10 06:00 — 16,956 players2026-10-10 21:00 — 28,532 players2026-10-11 12:00 — 29,368 players2026-10-12 03:00 — 17,206 players2026-10-12 18:00 — 27,343 players2026-10-13 09:00 — 14,470 players2026-10-14 00:00 — 16,208 players2026-10-14 15:00 — 24,461 players2026-10-14 22:00 — 19,085 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
48k9.4kSep 2020Aug 2026Sep 2020 — avg 48,313 · peak 98,474Nov 2020 — avg 13,225 · peak 24,860Jan 2021 — avg 12,652 · peak 22,816Mar 2021 — avg 13,826 · peak 36,116May 2021 — avg 10,640 · peak 18,614Jul 2021 — avg 10,678 · peak 17,073Sep 2021 — avg 9,982 · peak 17,674Nov 2021 — avg 10,118 · peak 16,049Jan 2022 — avg 12,212 · peak 19,642Mar 2022 — avg 16,230 · peak 26,631May 2022 — avg 12,789 · peak 25,124Jul 2022 — avg 13,934 · peak 21,306Sep 2022 — avg 16,256 · peak 34,448Nov 2022 — avg 11,401 · peak 19,914Jan 2023 — avg 12,535 · peak 19,094Mar 2023 — avg 11,569 · peak 18,828May 2023 — avg 20,059 · peak 45,159Jul 2023 — avg 15,351 · peak 24,628Sep 2023 — avg 11,467 · peak 19,151Nov 2023 — avg 14,434 · peak 26,505Jan 2024 — avg 13,896 · peak 21,142Mar 2024 — avg 18,110 · peak 31,561May 2024 — avg 14,111 · peak 26,584Jul 2024 — avg 14,751 · peak 23,183Sep 2024 — avg 19,456 · peak 50,493Nov 2024 — avg 16,951 · peak 29,187Jan 2025 — avg 17,928 · peak 28,941Mar 2025 — avg 18,326 · peak 32,294May 2025 — avg 18,121 · peak 31,228Jul 2025 — avg 15,159 · peak 24,243Sep 2025 — avg 16,744 · peak 30,097Nov 2025 — avg 29,151 · peak 76,221Jan 2026 — avg 17,513 · peak 27,064Mar 2026 — avg 19,129 · peak 30,274May 2026 — avg 18,586 · peak 32,991Jul 2026 — avg 19,486 · peak 29,852Aug 2026 — avg 20,750 · peak 32,966
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Chart history

#52#1002026-09-142026-10-142026-09-14 — #1002026-09-15 — #522026-09-16 — #522026-09-17 — #522026-09-18 — #992026-09-20 — #992026-09-21 — #982026-09-22 — #972026-09-23 — #962026-09-24 — #962026-09-25 — #972026-09-26 — #1002026-09-28 — #1002026-09-29 — #1002026-10-01 — #812026-10-02 — #742026-10-03 — #742026-10-04 — #782026-10-05 — #792026-10-06 — #782026-10-07 — #782026-10-08 — #822026-10-09 — #832026-10-10 — #852026-10-11 — #862026-10-12 — #862026-10-13 — #862026-10-14 — #90
Best Steam most-played rank per day (census top-100 snapshots).
PositiveNegative
29292026-09-152026-09-222026-09-15: 27 new positive2026-09-15: 2 new negative2026-09-16: 14 new positive2026-09-16: 9 new negative2026-09-17: 22 new positive2026-09-17: 1 new negative2026-09-18: 25 new positive2026-09-18: 3 new negative2026-09-19: 16 new positive2026-09-19: 2 new negative2026-09-20: 29 new positive2026-09-20: 6 new negative2026-09-21: 22 new positive2026-09-21: 1 new negative2026-09-22: 27 new positive2026-09-22: 20 new negative
New Steam reviews per day (census review snapshots). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$49.99$11.992020-05-142026-10-142020-05-14 — best price $49.992020-10-16 — best price $49.992020-12-09 — best price $39.992021-01-20 — best price $49.992021-03-11 — best price $29.982021-04-13 — best price $49.992021-05-21 — best price $22.982021-07-16 — best price $22.992021-09-04 — best price $27.952021-11-02 — best price $45.492021-12-22 — best price $32.492022-02-17 — best price $32.492022-04-29 — best price $39.992022-06-10 — best price $34.392022-08-02 — best price $34.992022-09-28 — best price $44.942022-11-29 — best price $43.992023-01-17 — best price $39.992023-03-23 — best price $19.982023-06-30 — best price $21.792023-08-06 — best price $24.502023-10-25 — best price $25.002023-12-15 — best price $20.492024-02-11 — best price $19.742024-04-11 — best price $18.002024-06-11 — best price $17.472024-07-21 — best price $44.822024-09-07 — best price $42.492024-11-02 — best price $20.002024-12-04 — best price $14.412025-01-15 — best price $38.892025-03-06 — best price $49.992025-05-12 — best price $49.992025-09-10 — best price $19.732025-12-07 — best price $15.002026-03-19 — best price $11.992026-07-13 — best price $13.502026-09-02 — best price $49.992026-10-14 — best price $49.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

6643222026-05-13 — 401 pageviews2026-05-17 — 442 pageviews2026-05-21 — 353 pageviews2026-05-25 — 365 pageviews2026-05-29 — 377 pageviews2026-06-02 — 379 pageviews2026-06-06 — 396 pageviews2026-06-10 — 353 pageviews2026-06-14 — 390 pageviews2026-06-18 — 359 pageviews2026-06-22 — 342 pageviews2026-06-26 — 463 pageviews2026-06-30 — 433 pageviews2026-07-04 — 425 pageviews2026-07-08 — 531 pageviews2026-07-12 — 415 pageviews2026-07-16 — 340 pageviews2026-07-20 — 405 pageviews2026-07-24 — 378 pageviews2026-07-28 — 443 pageviews2026-08-01 — 322 pageviews2026-08-05 — 395 pageviews2026-08-09 — 427 pageviews2026-08-13 — 420 pageviews2026-08-17 — 485 pageviews2026-08-21 — 420 pageviews2026-08-25 — 413 pageviews2026-08-29 — 376 pageviews2026-09-02 — 370 pageviews2026-09-06 — 342 pageviews2026-09-10 — 358 pageviews2026-09-14 — 391 pageviews2026-09-18 — 383 pageviews2026-09-22 — 375 pageviews2026-09-26 — 394 pageviews2026-09-30 — 597 pageviews2026-10-04 — 602 pageviews2026-10-08 — 432 pageviews2026-10-12 — 390 pageviews2026-10-13 — 442 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

10k42026-09-30 23:34 — 633 viewers2026-10-01 11:34 — 1,987 viewers2026-10-01 23:34 — 130 viewers2026-10-02 10:34 — 2,537 viewers2026-10-02 19:34 — 4,538 viewers2026-10-03 07:34 — 12 viewers2026-10-03 19:34 — 237 viewers2026-10-04 07:34 — 268 viewers2026-10-04 19:34 — 2,338 viewers2026-10-05 07:34 — 7 viewers2026-10-05 19:34 — 305 viewers2026-10-06 07:34 — 34 viewers2026-10-06 16:12 — 9,883 viewers2026-10-07 03:34 — 18 viewers2026-10-07 15:34 — 59 viewers2026-10-08 03:34 — 29 viewers2026-10-08 14:12 — 6,359 viewers2026-10-08 23:34 — 38 viewers2026-10-09 11:34 — 1,032 viewers2026-10-09 20:35 — 214 viewers2026-10-10 08:34 — 25 viewers2026-10-10 20:35 — 175 viewers2026-10-11 08:34 — 41 viewers2026-10-11 20:35 — 377 viewers2026-10-12 08:34 — 110 viewers2026-10-12 20:34 — 2,019 viewers2026-10-13 08:34 — 9 viewers2026-10-13 17:34 — 3,144 viewers2026-10-14 05:34 — 29 viewers2026-10-14 17:34 — 537 viewers2026-10-14 22:34 — 89 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Completion

60+
achievements tracked
60.7%
earned "Until Death Do Us Part"
11.5%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerMulti-playerPvPOnline PvPSteam AchievementsSteam Trading CardsSteam WorkshopAdjustable Text SizeCamera ComfortCustom Volume Controls33 DLC

8 supported languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Polish

Post-launch support: 33 DLC released, first 2020-09-01, latest 2026-04-20 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)31,3010%188
Xbox Series (Xbox)8,7230%116
PS5 (PlayStation)7,3900%103
Windows (Xbox)4,0590%188
PS5 (PlayStation)660%103

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

RPGRTSWarEconomySandboxLife SimMedievalStrategyHistoricalManagement

Census log

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

Recent updates

Players also track

Order of Battle: World War IILife is Feudal: Forest VillageMedieval Kingdom WarsForce of NatureMashinkyDawn of ManAge of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition

Similarity via IGDB.

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