The Game Census
Gratuitous Space Battles cover art

Gratuitous Space Battles

Positech Games · 2009-11-16

Steam

IndieSimulationStrategy

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

Releases: Nov 16, 2009 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Nov 16, 2009 (Mac), Nov 16, 2009 (Linux)

The first ever auto-battler game, from way back in 2009Who needs backstory? Who needs resource-gathering? Diplomacy is so last year. Gratuitous Space Battles cuts right to the chase of sci-fi strategy games, and deals with large, completely unjustified space battles between huge opposing space fleets.

Gratuitous Space Battles is a 2009 Indie, Simulation, and Strategy game priced at $14.99, with an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 owners and Mixed reviews (70% of 890 reviews).

2
playing now
70%
positive of 890 reviews
Mixed
steam's rating (official)
200,000–500,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
65/100
critic score (2 outlets, IGDB)
92/100
IGDB user rating (11 ratings)
bronze
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Unknown
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: 0
$14.99
steam price (US)

2 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 13:00 UTC (census sample)

Gratuitous Space Battles is a video game developed by the UK-based company Positech Games. It was released on November 17, 2009. On one level the title is a space warfare simulation consisting of a number of engagements between two opposing fleets of ships. While sometimes assumed to be a real-time strategy (RTS) game based on screenshots, actual gameplay focuses on the setup prior to the battle, making it play more like a tower defense game.

Health check

Quiet
  • · 2 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 22 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~3/week).
  • · Review velocity down 8% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 11% of 49,851 Indie games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-31

Estimated sales: 36k–71k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 890 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $1.49 at Steam (2022-11-22) · bundled 3×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $14.99 · on sale 3 of 6 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
7720172026Week of 2017-01-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2017-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2017-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2017-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2017-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2017-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2017-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2017-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2017-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2017-09-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2017-11-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2017-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 5 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

402026-09-15 14:00 — 0 players2026-09-16 23:00 — 2 players2026-09-18 06:00 — 1 players2026-09-19 14:00 — 1 players2026-09-20 21:00 — 0 players2026-09-22 05:00 — 1 players2026-09-23 12:00 — 0 players2026-09-24 20:00 — 2 players2026-09-26 03:00 — 0 players2026-09-27 11:00 — 1 players2026-09-28 18:00 — 1 players2026-09-30 02:00 — 1 players2026-10-01 09:00 — 0 players2026-10-02 17:00 — 1 players2026-10-04 01:00 — 4 players2026-10-05 09:00 — 1 players2026-10-06 16:00 — 1 players2026-10-08 00:00 — 1 players2026-10-09 07:00 — 3 players2026-10-10 15:00 — 2 players2026-10-11 22:00 — 1 players2026-10-13 06:00 — 0 players2026-10-14 13:00 — 2 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$19.99$1.492015-01-012026-07-092015-01-01 — best price $3.742015-08-03 — best price $9.492015-11-25 — best price $11.242016-01-04 — best price $14.992016-06-23 — best price $4.992016-08-02 — best price $7.492016-11-29 — best price $14.992017-06-22 — best price $7.492017-11-01 — best price $14.992017-12-21 — best price $2.992018-02-19 — best price $14.992018-10-29 — best price $7.492018-11-27 — best price $14.992019-02-04 — best price $7.492019-07-09 — best price $14.992019-08-12 — best price $3.742019-11-01 — best price $14.992019-11-26 — best price $5.092020-01-02 — best price $14.992020-06-25 — best price $5.092020-11-02 — best price $14.992020-12-22 — best price $7.492021-02-15 — best price $14.992021-08-30 — best price $5.092021-12-01 — best price $14.992022-01-25 — best price $11.962022-02-03 — best price $14.992022-06-23 — best price $3.742022-08-28 — best price $14.992022-12-22 — best price $1.492023-03-23 — best price $14.992023-11-21 — best price $3.742024-01-04 — best price $14.992024-06-27 — best price $7.492024-12-04 — best price $14.992025-03-13 — best price $5.092025-07-10 — best price $14.992025-12-18 — best price $4.492026-03-26 — best price $14.992026-07-09 — best price $14.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

2202026-05-29 — 22 pageviews2026-06-02 — 8 pageviews2026-06-06 — 2 pageviews2026-06-10 — 4 pageviews2026-06-14 — 5 pageviews2026-06-18 — 8 pageviews2026-06-22 — 1 pageviews2026-06-26 — 5 pageviews2026-06-30 — 5 pageviews2026-07-04 — 4 pageviews2026-07-08 — 3 pageviews2026-07-12 — 7 pageviews2026-07-16 — 6 pageviews2026-07-20 — 4 pageviews2026-07-24 — 11 pageviews2026-07-28 — 1 pageviews2026-08-01 — 6 pageviews2026-08-05 — 9 pageviews2026-08-09 — 9 pageviews2026-08-13 — 11 pageviews2026-08-17 — 8 pageviews2026-08-21 — 6 pageviews2026-08-25 — 8 pageviews2026-08-29 — 4 pageviews2026-09-02 — 10 pageviews2026-09-06 — 8 pageviews2026-09-10 — 13 pageviews2026-09-14 — 7 pageviews2026-09-18 — 5 pageviews2026-09-22 — 4 pageviews2026-09-26 — 13 pageviews2026-09-30 — 2 pageviews2026-10-04 — 8 pageviews2026-10-08 — 7 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerSteam Trading CardsFamily Sharing6 DLC

1 supported languages: English

Post-launch support: 6 DLC released, first 2009-12-16, latest 2013-01-11 (Steam store data)

Player tags

2DRTSIndieSpaceActionSci-fiSandboxBuildingModdableStrategy

Census log

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

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsImagine EarthStellarisUnclaimed WorldRimWorldSurvivalistPlanetbaseMedieval Kingdom Wars

Similarity via IGDB.

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