The Game Census
Stellaris cover art

Stellaris

Paradox Development Studio · Paradox Interactive · 2016-05-09

SteamGOGMicrosoft Store

SimulationStrategy

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

Releases: May 09, 2016 (Mac), May 09, 2016 (Linux), May 09, 2016 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Feb 26, 2019 (PlayStation 4), Feb 26, 2019 (Xbox One), Nov 06, 2025 (PlayStation 5)

Explore a galaxy full of wonders in this sci-fi grand strategy game from Paradox Development Studios. Interact with diverse alien races, discover strange new worlds with unexpected events and expand the reach of your empire. Each new adventure holds almost limitless possibilities.

Stellaris is a $49.99 Simulation and Strategy game released in 2016, with an estimated 2,000,000 .. 5,000,000 owners and Very Positive (86% of 197237 reviews).

9,782
playing now
86%
positive of 197k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
2,000,000–5,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
27
twitch viewers (latest)
4.5
viewers/channel (concentration)
79/100
critic score (11 outlets, IGDB)
78/100
IGDB user rating (275 ratings)
160
Nexus mods (177k downloads)
81/100
opencritic · strong · 78% recommend · from 43 critics
64h
time to beat (IGDB)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$49.99
steam price (US)

9,782 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 10:00 UTC (census sample)

Stellaris is a 4X grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. Players take control of an interstellar civilization on the galactic stage and are tasked with exploring, colonising, and managing their region of the galaxy, encountering other civilizations that they can then engage in diplomacy, trade, or warfare with. A large part of the game involves dealing with both scripted and emergent events, through which the player might gain useful bonuses and profits, or vice versa, lose their power and strengthen rival civilizations. It was released worldwide for Windows, macOS, and Linux on May 9, 2016, and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as Stellaris: Console Edition on February 26, 2019.

Trailer

Stellaris trailer thumbnail

Stellaris: Apocalypse - Release Date / Story Trailer

≈917,437 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 9,782 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 9,214 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~1,152/week).
  • · Review velocity up 21% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 1% of 16,620 Simulation games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 4.9M–12M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 196,641 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GOG$14.99-70%
Microsoft Store$49.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $3.94 at GameBillet (2021-04-17) · bundled 10×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $49.99 · on sale 116 of 146 observed days · $11.05 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
3.7k3.7k20182026Week of 2018-03-01: 770 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 353 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 455 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 357 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 1,035 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 695 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 452 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 231 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 390 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 195 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 302 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 98 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 326 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 127 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 260 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 86 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 2,099 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 82 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 1,077 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 456 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 409 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 288 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 334 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 154 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 237 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 116 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 235 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 75 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 567 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 116 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 2,112 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 179 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 2,305 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 109 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 212 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 69 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 161 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 51 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 971 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 192 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 3,668 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 201 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 2,176 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 140 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 1,830 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 128 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 1,411 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 107 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 3,151 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 295 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 1,671 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 158 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 2,640 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 181 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 1,339 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 99 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 1,710 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 140 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 1,078 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 82 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 988 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 101 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 1,130 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 101 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 1,856 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 116 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 1,416 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 121 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 1,483 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 122 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 2,057 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 187 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 1,210 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 106 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 1,919 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 388 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 1,403 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 207 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 1,111 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 100 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 1,387 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 142 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 959 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 96 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 1,313 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 119 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 1,109 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 94 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 2,239 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 143 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 1,510 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 131 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 1,382 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 141 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 1,077 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 186 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 937 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 167 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 915 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 127 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 2,024 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 369 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 1,104 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 170 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 1,086 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 137 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 724 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 78 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 878 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 108 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 853 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 100 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 1,298 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 82 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 1,143 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 117 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 1,120 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 124 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 743 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 96 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 1,198 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 155 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 772 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 89 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 1,234 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 217 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 939 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 140 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 1,239 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 141 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 733 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 76 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 709 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 106 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 665 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 94 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 1,640 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 202 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 822 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 155 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 792 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 165 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 538 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 212 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 742 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 363 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 547 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 168 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 1,200 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 409 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 859 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 148 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 810 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 97 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 637 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 97 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 876 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 134 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 619 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 104 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 1,350 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 120 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 1,555 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 193 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 1,304 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 181 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 776 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 1,164 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 917 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 778 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 615 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 128 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 1,258 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 888 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 687 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 423 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 656 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 224 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 645 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 166 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 642 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 234 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 705 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 225 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 1,141 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 157 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 741 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 195 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 642 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 151 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 434 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 99 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 589 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 551 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 512 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 296 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 759 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 296 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 685 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 252 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 597 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 194 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 378 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 111 negativeWeek of 2026-09-01: 460 positiveWeek of 2026-09-01: 3,001 negativeWeek of 2026-10-01: 243 positiveWeek of 2026-10-01: 136 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

19k7.6k2026-09-15 11:00 — 9,258 players2026-09-16 19:00 — 9,887 players2026-09-18 03:00 — 7,735 players2026-09-19 10:00 — 11,271 players2026-09-20 18:00 — 12,853 players2026-09-22 02:00 — 7,840 players2026-09-23 09:00 — 8,238 players2026-09-24 17:00 — 12,440 players2026-09-26 00:00 — 10,330 players2026-09-27 08:00 — 14,079 players2026-09-28 15:00 — 14,283 players2026-09-29 23:00 — 9,386 players2026-10-01 06:00 — 10,396 players2026-10-02 14:00 — 14,959 players2026-10-03 21:00 — 14,223 players2026-10-05 05:00 — 10,902 players2026-10-06 13:00 — 13,764 players2026-10-07 20:00 — 11,139 players2026-10-09 04:00 — 9,626 players2026-10-10 11:00 — 15,120 players2026-10-11 19:00 — 15,640 players2026-10-13 03:00 — 9,936 players2026-10-14 10:00 — 9,782 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
25k0Aug 2015Aug 2026Aug 2015 — avg 1 · peak 11Jun 2016 — avg 9,105 · peak 21,517Oct 2016 — avg 6,133 · peak 20,301Feb 2017 — avg 6,024 · peak 11,105Jun 2017 — avg 9,776 · peak 20,888Oct 2017 — avg 10,660 · peak 24,824Feb 2018 — avg 15,954 · peak 61,467Jun 2018 — avg 11,188 · peak 23,073Oct 2018 — avg 7,654 · peak 13,955Feb 2019 — avg 9,949 · peak 18,011Jun 2019 — avg 15,031 · peak 29,345Oct 2019 — avg 9,419 · peak 20,584Feb 2020 — avg 9,633 · peak 14,938Jun 2020 — avg 12,213 · peak 19,164Oct 2020 — avg 11,042 · peak 24,935Feb 2021 — avg 16,017 · peak 26,283Jun 2021 — avg 12,866 · peak 19,976Oct 2021 — avg 13,391 · peak 22,156Feb 2022 — avg 14,291 · peak 23,459Jun 2022 — avg 17,986 · peak 30,468Oct 2022 — avg 13,809 · peak 24,515Feb 2023 — avg 13,539 · peak 20,989Jun 2023 — avg 15,122 · peak 27,704Oct 2023 — avg 11,519 · peak 18,826Feb 2024 — avg 10,939 · peak 16,240Jun 2024 — avg 14,881 · peak 25,015Oct 2024 — avg 11,863 · peak 19,391Feb 2025 — avg 13,883 · peak 23,337Jun 2025 — avg 15,108 · peak 28,780Oct 2025 — avg 13,924 · peak 26,155Feb 2026 — avg 13,147 · peak 21,897Jun 2026 — avg 15,393 · peak 29,566Aug 2026 — avg 10,852 · peak 16,484
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$49.99$0.002015-09-302026-10-142015-09-30 — best price $44.992016-11-24 — best price $23.002017-04-24 — best price $21.992017-09-22 — best price $16.002018-01-30 — best price $39.992018-06-18 — best price $32.992018-10-10 — best price $35.992018-12-24 — best price $12.992019-02-21 — best price $30.992019-05-30 — best price $9.992019-09-05 — best price $9.992019-12-15 — best price $9.762020-02-28 — best price $9.992020-05-20 — best price $27.452020-08-22 — best price $39.992020-11-07 — best price $27.472021-01-25 — best price $6.392021-04-24 — best price $9.502021-07-29 — best price $19.982021-11-26 — best price $4.792022-03-23 — best price $8.992022-07-19 — best price $10.002022-11-22 — best price $8.992023-04-06 — best price $9.002023-08-16 — best price $37.992024-01-25 — best price $11.992024-06-02 — best price $34.992024-09-17 — best price $31.492024-12-09 — best price $31.492025-04-25 — best price $8.892025-10-07 — best price $9.992026-03-30 — best price $31.492026-09-04 — best price $14.992026-10-14 — best price $14.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

5262132026-06-03 — 321 pageviews2026-06-07 — 370 pageviews2026-06-11 — 277 pageviews2026-06-15 — 430 pageviews2026-06-19 — 526 pageviews2026-06-23 — 385 pageviews2026-06-27 — 405 pageviews2026-07-01 — 333 pageviews2026-07-05 — 458 pageviews2026-07-09 — 413 pageviews2026-07-13 — 473 pageviews2026-07-17 — 336 pageviews2026-07-21 — 314 pageviews2026-07-25 — 269 pageviews2026-07-29 — 225 pageviews2026-08-02 — 313 pageviews2026-08-06 — 213 pageviews2026-08-10 — 394 pageviews2026-08-14 — 252 pageviews2026-08-18 — 220 pageviews2026-08-22 — 283 pageviews2026-08-26 — 384 pageviews2026-08-30 — 348 pageviews2026-09-03 — 250 pageviews2026-09-07 — 294 pageviews2026-09-11 — 281 pageviews2026-09-15 — 244 pageviews2026-09-19 — 259 pageviews2026-09-23 — 338 pageviews2026-09-27 — 380 pageviews2026-10-01 — 292 pageviews2026-10-05 — 331 pageviews2026-10-09 — 311 pageviews2026-10-12 — 300 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

36312026-09-30 21:34 — 10 viewers2026-10-01 06:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-01 15:34 — 39 viewers2026-10-02 00:34 — 9 viewers2026-10-02 09:34 — 2 viewers2026-10-02 18:34 — 32 viewers2026-10-03 03:34 — 27 viewers2026-10-03 12:34 — 22 viewers2026-10-03 21:34 — 122 viewers2026-10-04 06:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-04 15:34 — 63 viewers2026-10-05 00:34 — 9 viewers2026-10-05 09:34 — 2 viewers2026-10-05 18:34 — 39 viewers2026-10-06 03:34 — 1 viewers2026-10-06 12:34 — 4 viewers2026-10-06 21:34 — 10 viewers2026-10-07 06:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-07 15:34 — 37 viewers2026-10-08 00:34 — 38 viewers2026-10-08 09:34 — 22 viewers2026-10-08 18:34 — 13 viewers2026-10-09 03:34 — 21 viewers2026-10-09 12:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-09 21:34 — 32 viewers2026-10-10 06:34 — 14 viewers2026-10-10 15:34 — 16 viewers2026-10-11 00:34 — 10 viewers2026-10-11 09:34 — 43 viewers2026-10-11 18:34 — 25 viewers2026-10-12 03:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-12 12:34 — 16 viewers2026-10-12 21:34 — 31 viewers2026-10-13 06:34 — 4 viewers2026-10-13 15:34 — 34 viewers2026-10-14 00:34 — 23 viewers2026-10-14 09:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-14 18:34 — 21 viewers2026-10-14 20:34 — 27 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Completion

60+
achievements tracked
40.1%
earned "Energetic"
13.9%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerMulti-playerCross-Platform MultiplayerSteam AchievementsSteam Trading CardsSteam WorkshopSteam CloudFamily Sharing32 DLC

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

Post-launch support: 32 DLC released, first 2016-08-04, latest 2026-04-29 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)44,9840%219
Windows (Xbox)1,1780%219

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

4XSpaceSci-fiSandboxMilitaryModdableStrategyDiplomacyManagementSimulation

Census log

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

Recent updates

Players also track

Distant Worlds: UniverseStar Control®: OriginsImagine EarthSol 0: Mars ColonizationPlanetbasePolaris SectorAge of Wonders: Planetfall

Similarity via IGDB.

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