The Game Census
Galactic Civilizations III cover art

Galactic Civilizations III

Stardock Entertainment · 2015-05-14

SteamGOGEpic Games StoreMicrosoft Store

Strategy

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

Releases: May 14, 2015 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Build a civilization that will stand the test of time in the largest space-based strategy game ever! Choose from dozens of unique races and make a name for yourself across the galaxy through diplomacy, espionage, technological advances, and more.

Galactic Civilizations III is a Strategy game released in 2015, priced at $29.99, with an estimated 1,000,000 .. 2,000,000 owners and Mostly Positive (77% of 10400 reviews).

142
playing now
77%
positive of 10k reviews
Mostly Positive
steam's rating (official)
1,000,000–2,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
78/100
critic score (2 outlets, IGDB)
71/100
IGDB user rating (18 ratings)
130
Nexus mods (252k downloads)
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$29.99
steam price (US)

142 players in-game as of 2026-10-15 18:00 UTC (census sample)

Galactic Civilizations III is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Stardock for Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to 2006's Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. The full version of the game was released in May 2015. The game's first expansion, titled Mercenaries, was released in February 2016.

Trailer

Galactic Civilizations III trailer thumbnail

Galactic Civilizations III -- First Gameplay Trailer

≈371,179 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 142 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 47 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~6/week).
  • · Review velocity down 34% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 3% of 14,371 Strategy games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 260k–624k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 10,400 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Microsoft Store$39.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $3.60 at GamersGate (2019-03-11) · bundled 6×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $39.99 · on sale 89 of 96 observed days · $36.39 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
959520182026Week of 2018-01-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 56 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 59 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 60 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 45 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 70 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 95 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 78 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 56 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 49 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 71 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 58 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 46 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 3 positive
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

180642026-09-16 04:00 — 74 players2026-09-17 12:00 — 89 players2026-09-18 19:00 — 146 players2026-09-20 03:00 — 123 players2026-09-21 11:00 — 83 players2026-09-22 18:00 — 158 players2026-09-24 02:00 — 103 players2026-09-25 09:00 — 89 players2026-09-26 17:00 — 165 players2026-09-28 00:00 — 139 players2026-09-29 08:00 — 80 players2026-09-30 15:00 — 109 players2026-10-01 23:00 — 123 players2026-10-03 06:00 — 99 players2026-10-04 14:00 — 131 players2026-10-05 22:00 — 115 players2026-10-07 05:00 — 64 players2026-10-08 13:00 — 101 players2026-10-09 20:00 — 129 players2026-10-11 04:00 — 110 players2026-10-12 12:00 — 84 players2026-10-13 19:00 — 140 players2026-10-15 03:00 — 88 players2026-10-15 18:00 — 142 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
1.9k9Apr 2014Aug 2026Apr 2014 — avg 13 · peak 49Aug 2014 — avg 121 · peak 526Dec 2014 — avg 119 · peak 557Apr 2015 — avg 351 · peak 693Aug 2015 — avg 749 · peak 1,441Dec 2015 — avg 834 · peak 1,746Apr 2016 — avg 719 · peak 1,381Aug 2016 — avg 637 · peak 1,890Dec 2016 — avg 450 · peak 852Apr 2017 — avg 522 · peak 1,001Aug 2017 — avg 519 · peak 928Dec 2017 — avg 536 · peak 1,096Apr 2018 — avg 605 · peak 1,432Aug 2018 — avg 399 · peak 745Dec 2018 — avg 462 · peak 915Apr 2019 — avg 395 · peak 694Aug 2019 — avg 682 · peak 2,211Dec 2019 — avg 431 · peak 771Apr 2020 — avg 497 · peak 855Aug 2020 — avg 353 · peak 623Dec 2020 — avg 378 · peak 638Apr 2021 — avg 311 · peak 539Aug 2021 — avg 339 · peak 592Dec 2021 — avg 329 · peak 585Apr 2022 — avg 282 · peak 461Aug 2022 — avg 224 · peak 374Dec 2022 — avg 272 · peak 511Apr 2023 — avg 246 · peak 442Aug 2023 — avg 199 · peak 334Dec 2023 — avg 191 · peak 311Apr 2024 — avg 160 · peak 268Aug 2024 — avg 159 · peak 279Dec 2024 — avg 153 · peak 251Apr 2025 — avg 144 · peak 248Aug 2025 — avg 152 · peak 258Dec 2025 — avg 124 · peak 197Apr 2026 — avg 125 · peak 211Aug 2026 — avg 115 · peak 190
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$49.99$3.802015-01-012026-10-142015-01-01 — best price $44.992015-10-05 — best price $24.992016-02-04 — best price $39.992016-08-01 — best price $39.992017-01-30 — best price $39.992017-10-27 — best price $29.992018-05-24 — best price $13.602018-11-27 — best price $39.992019-05-21 — best price $29.992019-10-02 — best price $7.492020-01-10 — best price $21.962020-04-29 — best price $33.492020-07-12 — best price $33.492020-09-11 — best price $35.992020-10-23 — best price $35.992020-12-03 — best price $39.992021-01-24 — best price $39.992021-03-09 — best price $12.792021-05-01 — best price $39.992021-06-24 — best price $10.622021-09-14 — best price $18.362021-12-01 — best price $19.882022-02-18 — best price $11.242022-06-01 — best price $19.992022-10-06 — best price $12.792023-01-06 — best price $18.362023-05-05 — best price $10.242023-08-25 — best price $22.492023-12-01 — best price $22.492024-03-04 — best price $39.992024-05-20 — best price $39.992024-08-22 — best price $39.992024-12-06 — best price $22.492025-03-13 — best price $10.192025-06-18 — best price $10.192025-10-06 — best price $29.992026-01-03 — best price $29.992026-03-27 — best price $7.492026-07-01 — best price $22.462026-10-14 — best price $39.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

2842026-05-27 — 6 pageviews2026-05-31 — 13 pageviews2026-06-04 — 17 pageviews2026-06-08 — 14 pageviews2026-06-12 — 6 pageviews2026-06-16 — 11 pageviews2026-06-20 — 20 pageviews2026-06-24 — 11 pageviews2026-06-28 — 12 pageviews2026-07-02 — 11 pageviews2026-07-06 — 18 pageviews2026-07-10 — 18 pageviews2026-07-14 — 14 pageviews2026-07-18 — 14 pageviews2026-07-22 — 8 pageviews2026-07-26 — 12 pageviews2026-07-30 — 15 pageviews2026-08-03 — 12 pageviews2026-08-07 — 16 pageviews2026-08-11 — 14 pageviews2026-08-15 — 6 pageviews2026-08-19 — 15 pageviews2026-08-23 — 15 pageviews2026-08-27 — 7 pageviews2026-08-31 — 10 pageviews2026-09-04 — 8 pageviews2026-09-08 — 17 pageviews2026-09-12 — 14 pageviews2026-09-16 — 7 pageviews2026-09-20 — 20 pageviews2026-09-24 — 9 pageviews2026-09-28 — 28 pageviews2026-10-02 — 11 pageviews2026-10-06 — 7 pageviews2026-10-10 — 6 pageviews2026-10-12 — 14 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

60+
achievements tracked
78.1%
earned "Our New Home"
6.4%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsSingle-playerMulti-playerPvPOnline PvPCo-opOnline Co-opSteam AchievementsSteam Trading CardsSteam WorkshopStats17 DLC

3 supported languages: English, French, German

Post-launch support: 17 DLC released, first 2015-07-09, latest 2020-05-12 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)10,0480%102
Windows (Xbox)3211%102

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

3D4XPvEPvPSpaceAliensSci-fiSandboxHex GridModdable

Census log

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

Recent updates

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsImagine EarthUnclaimed WorldENDLESS Legend™RimWorldENDLESS Space™ 2Age of Wonders: Planetfall

Similarity via IGDB.

Discord ↗Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗