Wube Software

How many copies did Factorio sell? — 2023 statistics

Fact-checked
Release Date
August 14, 2020
Genre
Factory simulator
Developer
Wube Software
Publisher
Wube Software

Every so often you come across a game that makes you rethink all of your life choices, one that sucks up the entirety of your life for a few weeks before finally setting you free. It takes a special type of complexity and appeal for a niche of gamers that can make a game so addictive, and Factorio does that perfectly. In short, Factorio is a top-down industry simulation game where you are a scientist who crashed his spaceship and has to use the naturally-forming resources of the planet you’re on to eventually build a rocket that takes you into space. The game is amazingly complex and you can play it for weeks without finishing it completely, maybe even more. Despite its supreme quality, this game barely gets any media coverage, but we’re here to fix that and give you some Factorio statistics and facts to see what makes this game so good and why you should get it for yourself. Oh, by the way, if you want to learn more about how big the esports industry is, we’ve got you covered!

Factorio key stats

This first section is going to contain all of the news postings and stats we have been able to find about the game, but it shouldn’t be more than a few subheadings since the game is very quiet compared to other games in the same genre. We’ll start with total sales and end with total hours watched on Twitch.

Factorio has sold over 5.5 million copies.

(Source: 80LV)

  • The game’s sales average around 500,000 sales per year.
  • The game was ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2023.
  • Since then, it has also gathered over 40,000 sales on that platform.
  • 40% of the total Switch sales of the game were in Japan.

This is the first line of stats for Factorio that we have, and, as you can see, the game hasn’t sold a tremendous number of copies since it was first released, but that does not stop it from being one of the best indie industry sims available on the market.

Factorio has grossed over $109.7 million on Steam.

(Source: VG Insights)

  • 96.4% of the game’s reviews are positive.
  • On Steam, it has sold over 5 million copies.
  • The average playtime is 438.7 hours.
  • The median playtime is 192.5 hours.
  • The game has approximately 12,000 active players at any given time.

Even though the game hasn’t sold that many copies in total, it is apparent that it is still lucrative for its studio, as $110 million is nothing to scoff at. The game is also quite well-received and the average number of hours that players spend in it is quite high, meaning that once you start, you can’t stop.

G2A had to pay the Factorio developers over $40,000 over game keys.

(Source: PC Gamer)

  • Many game developers said that they would rather their games get pirated than get sold over reselling platforms.
  • In response to this, G2A said that they would pay ten times the money developers lost through chargebacks.
  • Wube Software, the developer of Factorio, took them up on the offer.
  • They charged G2A $39,600 for 198 sold keys.

This is some drama that we were not expecting for a game like Factorio, but here it is! Apparently, the developers are very protective of their game, as they have every right to be, so they took G2A up on their “limited-time” offer to get some money back for their troubles.

Factorio’s price was raised after seven years without a sale.

(Source: Kotaku)

  • The game had the same price since it was launched in 2016.
  • The developers were quite transparent with the community, announcing the price change in advance.
  • The reason for the increase was the account for inflation that gradually set in over the years.

While many people consider “no sale” policies to be amoral, they make perfect sense when you think about the game in question. If it is consistently good and offers the best of everything you could ask for, then why would a sale be justified? Factorio is a massive game and is one of the best industry sims to ever come out, and a $5 increase in the price is justified.

Factorio had 5.1 million hours watched on Twitch in 2022.

(Source: SullyGnome)

  • The game had 239,180 broadcasting hours.
  • There were 588 viewers watching the game on average.
  • There were 27 channels streaming the game on average.
  • It had a viewer ratio of 21.5.
  • Its max viewer count was 69,443.
  • 14,664 broadcasters streamed the game.

And finally, we can finish this off by taking a look at some of the hours that people have sunk into both streaming and watching Factorio on Twitch. As we can see, even though the game is a bit older than some newer building sims, it has still not fallen out of relevance due to how much content is available in the game in general. It is very watchable and we can expect its popularity to soar as more content is added to the game.

To sum up

Okay, so that concludes our somewhat limited overview of Factorio and the strides it has made in the gaming industry since it came out in 2016. As you can see, while the content that the game offers is tremendous across all fronts, there is no denying that it belongs to a niche and that it would be awesome if it could gain more recognition and validation for what it is. Nonetheless, we sincerely hope that you have enjoyed what we’ve had to say and that you’ve learned something new!

Sources

  • “Factorio Sales Surpassed 3.5 Million Copies”. 80LV, 2023, https://80.lv/articles/factorio-sales-surpassed-3-5-million-copies/
  • “Factorio – Steam Stats”. VG Insights, 2023, https://vginsights.com/game/427520
  • “Factorio”. SullyGnome, 2022, https://sullygnome.com/game/Factorio/2022
  • “G2A has paid Factorio studio nearly $40,000 over sale of illegitimate keys”. PC Gamer, 2020, https://www.pcgamer.com/g2a-has-paid-factorio-studio-nearly-dollar40000-over-sale-of-illegitimate-keys/