The Game Census
X4: Foundations cover art

X4: Foundations

Egosoft · 2018-11-30

SteamGOG

ActionSimulationStrategy

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: First person

Releases: Nov 30, 2018 (Linux), Nov 30, 2018 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Your journey to building a vast space empire begins behind the controls of a single ship. Explore, trade, fight, and build as you rise to command fleets, stations, and entire economies in a living, fully simulated universe that reacts to every decision.

X4: Foundations is an Action, Simulation, and Strategy game released in 2018, priced at $49.99, with an estimated 1,000,000 .. 2,000,000 owners and a Mostly Positive review sentiment (80% of 30219 reviews).

2,127
playing now
80%
positive of 30k reviews
Mostly Positive
steam's rating (official)
1,000,000–2,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
5
twitch viewers (latest)
2.5
viewers/channel (concentration)
75/100
critic score (1 outlets, IGDB)
80/100
IGDB user rating (20 ratings)
1,796
Nexus mods (8.2M downloads)
341h
to beat · rushed 66h · completionist 1434h
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Verified
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$49.99
steam price (US)

2,127 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 11:00 UTC (census sample)

X4: Foundations is a space trading and combat game developed by Egosoft and published in 2018. It is the seventh and most recent installment in the X series, following X Rebirth (2013). The game runs on Linux and Microsoft Windows.

Trailer

X4: Foundations trailer thumbnail

X4: Foundations - Trailer 2018

≈407,745 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 2,127 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 3,268 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~409/week).
  • · Review velocity up 31% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 2% of 27,727 Action games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 761k–1.8M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 30,427 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $4.00 at GreenManGaming (2025-12-22) · bundled 1×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $49.99 · on sale 24 of 42 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
2.3k2.3k20182026Week of 2018-11-01: 399 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 136 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 2,268 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 867 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 179 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 133 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 68 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 57 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 107 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 74 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 44 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 34 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 71 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 96 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 57 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 23 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 55 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 367 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 220 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 138 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 94 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 132 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 458 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 142 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 202 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 157 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 60 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 128 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 48 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 100 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 34 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 122 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 96 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 156 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 130 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 55 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 157 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 103 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 340 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 95 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 186 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 64 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 138 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 59 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 102 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 38 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 118 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 106 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 36 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 108 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 72 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 172 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 137 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 49 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 158 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 62 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 139 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 323 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 93 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 184 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 66 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 147 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 49 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 98 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 149 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 65 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 115 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 81 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 89 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 144 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 197 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 99 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 199 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 50 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 113 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 44 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 181 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 54 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 389 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 140 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 235 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 53 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 131 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 36 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 203 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 91 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 137 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 62 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 173 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 43 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 140 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 193 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 161 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 50 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 236 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 78 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 121 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 121 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 257 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 60 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 209 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 53 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 338 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 99 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 322 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 111 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 196 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 49 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 197 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 74 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 182 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 58 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 210 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 272 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 54 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 170 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 43 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 261 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 64 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 268 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 78 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 238 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 78 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 189 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 59 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 154 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 43 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 217 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 69 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 350 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 156 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 221 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 58 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 218 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 343 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 47 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 299 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 155 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 554 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 162 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 224 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 79 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 227 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 85 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 215 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 44 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 215 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 50 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 380 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 148 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 307 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 124 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 171 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 71 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

4.4k1.6k2026-09-15 12:00 — 2,761 players2026-09-16 20:00 — 3,464 players2026-09-18 03:00 — 1,931 players2026-09-19 11:00 — 3,561 players2026-09-20 18:00 — 4,397 players2026-09-22 02:00 — 2,137 players2026-09-23 10:00 — 2,245 players2026-09-24 17:00 — 3,450 players2026-09-26 01:00 — 2,259 players2026-09-27 08:00 — 3,103 players2026-09-28 16:00 — 3,159 players2026-09-29 23:00 — 1,949 players2026-10-01 07:00 — 1,697 players2026-10-02 14:00 — 2,874 players2026-10-03 22:00 — 3,032 players2026-10-05 06:00 — 1,713 players2026-10-06 13:00 — 2,673 players2026-10-07 21:00 — 2,634 players2026-10-09 04:00 — 1,665 players2026-10-10 12:00 — 3,346 players2026-10-11 20:00 — 3,777 players2026-10-13 03:00 — 1,757 players2026-10-14 11:00 — 2,127 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
6.2k0Sep 2017Aug 2026Sep 2017 — avg 1 · peak 6Dec 2017 — avg 0 · peak 5Mar 2018 — avg 1 · peak 5Feb 2019 — avg 1,038 · peak 2,059May 2019 — avg 543 · peak 988Aug 2019 — avg 465 · peak 838Nov 2019 — avg 667 · peak 1,290Feb 2020 — avg 624 · peak 1,196May 2020 — avg 2,017 · peak 4,145Aug 2020 — avg 959 · peak 2,181Nov 2020 — avg 1,121 · peak 2,015Feb 2021 — avg 1,266 · peak 2,095May 2021 — avg 2,495 · peak 4,713Aug 2021 — avg 1,268 · peak 2,529Nov 2021 — avg 1,379 · peak 2,977Feb 2022 — avg 2,011 · peak 3,632May 2022 — avg 2,227 · peak 4,280Aug 2022 — avg 1,458 · peak 2,502Nov 2022 — avg 1,305 · peak 2,296Feb 2023 — avg 2,032 · peak 3,559May 2023 — avg 3,915 · peak 7,824Aug 2023 — avg 1,851 · peak 3,104Nov 2023 — avg 1,648 · peak 2,821Feb 2024 — avg 2,000 · peak 3,345May 2024 — avg 2,168 · peak 3,526Aug 2024 — avg 2,960 · peak 4,872Nov 2024 — avg 2,019 · peak 3,457Feb 2025 — avg 3,005 · peak 6,761May 2025 — avg 2,692 · peak 4,793Aug 2025 — avg 3,084 · peak 5,599Nov 2025 — avg 2,303 · peak 3,911Feb 2026 — avg 3,143 · peak 5,457May 2026 — avg 2,707 · peak 4,717Aug 2026 — avg 3,630 · peak 6,156
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Chart history

PositiveNegative
17172026-09-212026-10-132026-09-21: 14 new positive2026-09-21: 7 new negative2026-09-22: 2 new positive2026-09-22: 1 new negative2026-09-23: 5 new positive2026-09-23: 3 new negative2026-09-25: 8 new positive2026-09-25: 3 new negative2026-09-26: 10 new positive2026-09-26: 1 new negative2026-09-27: 7 new positive2026-09-27: 2 new negative2026-09-28: 5 new positive2026-09-28: 2 new negative2026-09-29: 6 new positive2026-09-29: 2 new negative2026-09-30: 5 new positive2026-09-30: 1 new negative2026-10-02: 6 new positive2026-10-02: 2 new negative2026-10-04: 17 new positive2026-10-04: 4 new negative2026-10-05: 4 new positive2026-10-06: 2 new negative2026-10-08: 7 new positive2026-10-08: 1 new negative2026-10-09: 5 new positive2026-10-09: 2 new negative2026-10-10: 7 new positive2026-10-10: 3 new negative2026-10-11: 10 new positive2026-10-11: 3 new negative2026-10-13: 11 new positive
New Steam reviews per day (census review snapshots). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$50.21$4.992018-10-012026-09-112018-10-01 — best price $49.992019-04-01 — best price $49.992019-07-09 — best price $49.992019-10-21 — best price $49.002019-12-23 — best price $44.992020-02-06 — best price $39.202020-03-30 — best price $49.992020-06-04 — best price $34.992020-08-03 — best price $44.992020-11-02 — best price $49.992020-12-31 — best price $32.492021-03-19 — best price $49.992021-05-27 — best price $29.992021-08-05 — best price $29.992021-10-08 — best price $49.992021-12-01 — best price $49.992022-02-07 — best price $49.992022-04-21 — best price $48.782022-06-24 — best price $19.992022-08-14 — best price $16.502022-10-19 — best price $19.992022-12-19 — best price $19.992023-02-20 — best price $49.992023-04-12 — best price $24.992023-05-23 — best price $49.992023-07-23 — best price $19.992023-09-12 — best price $49.992023-11-22 — best price $24.992024-01-16 — best price $19.992024-03-07 — best price $19.992024-04-18 — best price $49.992024-06-19 — best price $14.992024-11-02 — best price $49.992025-03-20 — best price $49.992025-08-18 — best price $12.002025-12-18 — best price $4.992026-04-17 — best price $49.992026-08-10 — best price $49.992026-09-11 — best price $9.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

271592026-06-02 — 92 pageviews2026-06-06 — 132 pageviews2026-06-10 — 219 pageviews2026-06-14 — 164 pageviews2026-06-18 — 156 pageviews2026-06-22 — 128 pageviews2026-06-26 — 205 pageviews2026-06-30 — 186 pageviews2026-07-04 — 206 pageviews2026-07-08 — 188 pageviews2026-07-12 — 137 pageviews2026-07-16 — 87 pageviews2026-07-20 — 158 pageviews2026-07-24 — 105 pageviews2026-07-28 — 91 pageviews2026-08-01 — 80 pageviews2026-08-05 — 148 pageviews2026-08-09 — 135 pageviews2026-08-13 — 83 pageviews2026-08-17 — 95 pageviews2026-08-21 — 103 pageviews2026-08-25 — 62 pageviews2026-08-29 — 91 pageviews2026-09-02 — 78 pageviews2026-09-06 — 91 pageviews2026-09-10 — 106 pageviews2026-09-14 — 89 pageviews2026-09-18 — 67 pageviews2026-09-22 — 95 pageviews2026-09-26 — 63 pageviews2026-09-30 — 59 pageviews2026-10-04 — 117 pageviews2026-10-08 — 124 pageviews2026-10-12 — 129 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

1.8k02026-10-01 00:34 — 26 viewers2026-10-01 09:34 — 11 viewers2026-10-01 18:34 — 13 viewers2026-10-02 03:34 — 16 viewers2026-10-02 12:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-02 21:34 — 35 viewers2026-10-03 06:34 — 13 viewers2026-10-03 15:34 — 23 viewers2026-10-04 00:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-04 09:34 — 11 viewers2026-10-04 18:34 — 18 viewers2026-10-05 03:34 — 2 viewers2026-10-05 12:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-05 21:34 — 73 viewers2026-10-06 06:34 — 5 viewers2026-10-06 15:34 — 24 viewers2026-10-07 00:35 — 301 viewers2026-10-07 09:34 — 2 viewers2026-10-07 18:34 — 15 viewers2026-10-08 03:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-08 12:34 — 14 viewers2026-10-08 21:34 — 73 viewers2026-10-09 06:34 — 4 viewers2026-10-09 15:34 — 48 viewers2026-10-10 00:34 — 48 viewers2026-10-10 09:34 — 8 viewers2026-10-10 18:35 — 42 viewers2026-10-11 03:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-11 12:34 — 9 viewers2026-10-11 21:34 — 4 viewers2026-10-12 06:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-12 15:34 — 22 viewers2026-10-13 00:34 — 120 viewers2026-10-13 09:34 — 11 viewers2026-10-13 18:34 — 11 viewers2026-10-14 03:34 — 2 viewers2026-10-14 12:34 — 7 viewers2026-10-14 21:34 — 1,174 viewers2026-10-14 23:34 — 5 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Completion

60+
achievements tracked
62.8%
earned "Crash Course"
13.9%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsLinuxFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportSteam Trading CardsSteam WorkshopAdjustable Text SizeCamera ComfortColor AlternativesCustom Volume ControlsPlayable without Timed Input15 DLC

13 supported languages: English, German, French, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese - Brazil, Spanish - Spain, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Spanish - Latin America…

Post-launch support: 15 DLC released, first 2020-02-11, latest 2025-09-10 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)13,3830%172

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

3DSpaceFlightEconomySandboxTradingStrategySpace SimCapitalismOpen World

Census log

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

Recent updates

Players also track

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Similarity via IGDB.

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