GIANTS Software

How many copies did Farming Simulator sell? — 2024 statistics

Sowing seeds in virtual fields.

Fact-checked
First Released
April 14, 2008
Genre
Simulator
Developer
GIANTS Software
Publisher
GIANTS Software

Simulator games offer players diverse experiences, and among them, Farming Simulator stands out. Since its 2008 inception, it has provided an immersive farming experience, far beyond simple point-and-click crop harvesting. How many copies did Farming Simulator sell? Let’s delve into Farming Simulator statistics to gauge its impact on the gaming industry. Speaking of the video game industry, consider checking out some of the latest news on esports revenue!

Farming Simulator key stats

From field to virtual table, we’ll be sorting all of the Farming Simulator statistics we have under this section so everything is easy to find. So, what to expect? We’ll go over some general sales stats for the series, Farming Simulator sales and revenue, and anything else that might be available regarding news for the series and such.

The Farming Simulator series has sold over 28 million copies.

(Source: VG Chartz)

  • Farming Simulator 2013 sold 590,000+ copies for PC only.
  • Farming Simulator 15 sold 3 million copies.
  • Farming Simulator 17 sold 1 million copies in its launch month.
  • Farming Simulator 19 sold 2 million+ copies.
  • Farming Simulator 22 sold 3 million copies.

While the sales of this franchise have not been documented in the best way, leaving some games out and leaving some things to speculation, from what we can see in the available information, Farming Simulators 15 and 22 sold the best, with over 3 million copies sold for each game, which is a large gap when it comes to the sales of other games, suggesting that there was something that both 15 and 22 did very well that would warrant so many sales.

The Farming Simulator series has grossed $125.8 million on Steam.

(Source: VG Insights)

  • Farming Simulator 2011 grossed $1.4 million.
  • Farming Simulator 2013 grossed $10.1 million.
  • Farming Simulator 15 grossed $18.1 million.
  • Farming Simulator 17 grossed $24.4 million.
  • Farming Simulator 19 grossed $19.4 million.
  • Farming Simulator 22 grossed $52.4 million.

Apparently, ingenuity and innovation over time can lead to better results! Farming Simulator 2008 was the first game to hit the market, and it was the first game in the series to put Farming Simulator on the map for popularity and for laying the foundations for further games to succeed. Farming Simulator 22 is the most successful game in the series so far, and we can’t wait to see where Farming Simulator 23 goes.

Farming Simulator 22 broke series records by selling over 1.5 million copies in its first week.

(Source: NME)

  • The game managed to beat Battlefield 2042 for concurrent player counts.
  • The Farming Simulator developers have expressed their pride in these accomplishments.
  • At one point, the game peaked at 78,069 players on Steam.
  • During the time of its release, Farming Simulator 22 was fifth on the top sellers list.

Farming Simulator 22 is definitely the best and most popular game in the series, and that is because it is the current culmination of quality that has been building itself up since 2008. We know that Farming Simulator 23 is in development and it is most likely going to surpass this game in the future.

Farming Simulator 17 had 1 million players during its first month.

(Sources: Eurogamer, PC Games Insider)

  • The game accumulated over 1 million players during its first month on the market.
  • That is near twice the number of sales as its predecessor.
  • 50% of the game’s total sales were for PC, and a majority of the sales were physical copies.
  • At this time 220,000 copies were sold on Steam with a positive user review score.
  • Farming Simulator 17 was #1 for in-store sales on all platforms on day one in Germany.
  • For comparison, Farming Simulator 19 managed 1 million sales in 10 days.

Even though Farming Simulator 22 is at the peak of its relevance at the time of writing, it is more than apparent that earlier iterations of the game have also been quite successful, with Farming Simulator 17 being one of them. This excellent game managed to top the charts and explode in popularity across Germany, its top-selling country. Other than that, it has enjoyed a great deal of success in the series and is definitely one of the best games in the series.

Farming Simulator 23 is coming in May 2023 for mobile devices and the Nintendo Switch.

(Source: Game Industry News, IGN, Gaming Lyfe)

  • The game will feature over 130 machines.
  • The selection of machines can be further expanded through in-game purchases.
  • Users will receive free and paid content updates as time goes on for the game.
  • New crops such as grapes and olives will be added.
  • Aside from that, players can expect new gameplay mechanics as well.

This was a huge announcement for the series as Farming Simulator should turn out to be the pinnacle of simulation ports for mobile devices, and we can most likely expect a PC release sometime in the future as well. As you can see here, Farming Simulator 23 will also feature additional content to keep the game fresh and interesting for both veterans and new players.

Farming equipment manufacturers constantly try to be featured in Farming Simulator.

(Source: Game World Observer)

  • These manufacturers value the marketing prospects of the popularity of the Farming Simulator series.
  • Giants Software used to reach out to equipment manufacturers to feature their equipment.
  • They constantly get offers that they have to curate and then add to the games.
  • The manufacturers share detailed schematics with Giants Software to stay true to the designs of their machines.
  • These partnerships also give Giants Software revenue to cover operation costs.

The tables flipped in Giants Software’s favor here, wouldn’t you say? They went from asking tractor manufacturers to be in their games to being one of the top marketing sources for these machines, effectively increasing both their general popularity and total profit through the partnerships that are formed.

Farming Simulator reached 2.5 billion mod downloads in 2023.

(Source: Worth Playing)

  • The series has had 400 unique machines from 100 agricultural brands, spread out across various aspects of farming.
  • The team at Giants Software actively tests user-submitted mods for quality assurance

The achievements that the Farming Simulator series has accumulated over the years are quite impressive and are just a sign of how successful future games are going to be. Sometimes, game developers are not that invested in the modding scenes of their games, but Giants Software is invested and loves seeing their community create new content surrounding their favorite games.

The Farming Simulator esports scene has awarded $582,267 in prize pools.

(Source: Esports Earnings)

  • The money was distributed across 25 tournaments.
  • Farming Simulator League 2019-20 World Championship had the highest prize pool at $118,960.
  • The rest of the tournaments had prize pools ranging from $115,260 to $10,434.
  • Most of the money was distributed in Germany ($507,661).
  • The most successful Farming Simulator player is Felix “Rablix” Hasenberger.
  • He has won $31,715 across 16 tournaments.
  • He is ranked #229 in Germany.

We assume that most of you would never have expected Farming Simulator to have an esports scene, of all games, but here it is! As you can see, this series does not have those million-dollar prize pools that bigger games tend to have, but they still have a decent reward stream that players like Rablix have taken great enjoyment out of.

Farming Simulator 22 had 12.3 million hours watched on Twitch in 2022.

(Source: SullyGnome)

  • The game had 1.055 million broadcasting hours.
  • 1,399 viewers were watching the game, on average.
  • There were 120 streaming the game.
  • The game had a viewer ratio of 11.6.
  • Its peak viewer count for 2022 was 24,070 viewers.
  • 72,300 broadcasters streamed the game in 2022.

This series has one of the most clear-cut examples of games losing popularity because of their successors, as games like Farming Simulator 19 had about 350,000 hours watched in 2022. Farming Simulator 22 is in a league of its own when it comes to gameplay innovation and general appeal, so we can be sure that Farming Simulator 23 is going to be even bigger.

To sum up

Alright, that’s all we have to say about the Farming Simulator series and everything it has brought to the gaming industry over the years. As you can see from the presented data, most Farming Simulator games perform very well during their release periods and even tend to beat some of the heavy hitters of the industry during those times as well, as we have seen in the case of Farming Simulator 17. In any case, this series has made strides in the industry for its quality and we’re happy to be able to bring you all of this information. We hope that all of your questions have been answered!

Sources

  • “Farming Simulator (Series)”. VG Chartz, 2022, https://www.vgchartz.com/game/226279/farming-simulator/?region=All
  • “Farming Simulator 2011 – Steam Stats”. VG Insights, 2023, https://vginsights.com/game/90200
  • “Farming Simulator 2013 – Steam Stats”. VG Insights, 2023, https://vginsights.com/game/220260
  • “Farming Simulator 15 – Steam Stats”. VG Insights, 2023, https://vginsights.com/game/313160
  • “Farming Simulator 17 – Steam Stats”. VG Insights, 2023, https://vginsights.com/game/447020
  • “Farming Simulator 19 – Steam Stats”. VG Insights, 2023, https://vginsights.com/game/787860
  • “Farming Simulator 22 – Steam Stats”. VG Insights, 2023, https://vginsights.com/game/1248130
  • “Hundreds of tractor manufacturers line up each year to get their equipment into Farming Simulator”. Game World Observer, 2023, https://gameworldobserver.com/2023/03/27/farming-simulator-tractor-manufacturers-giants-software
  • “Farming Simulator 19”. SullyGnome, 2022, https://sullygnome.com/game/Farming_Simulator_22/2022
  • “Farming Simulator League”. Esports Earnings, 2022, https://www.esportsearnings.com/leagues/694-farming-simulator-league
  • “Felix “Rablix” Hasenberger – Farming Simulator 19 Player”. Esports Earnings, 2021, https://www.esportsearnings.com/players/75552-rablix-felix-hasenberger
  • “‘Farming Simulator 22’ smashes series records with 1.5 million sales”. NME, 2021, https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/farming-simulator-22-smashes-series-records-with-1-5million-sales-3109476
  • “‘Farming Simulator’ Franchise Celebrates 15 Years, Reaches 2.5 Billion Mod Downloads”. WorthPlaying, 2023, https://worthplaying.com/article/2023/4/14/news/136758-farming-simulator-franchise-celebrates-15-years-reaches-25-billion-mod-downloads/
  • “Farming Simulator 17 ploughs through the competition”. Eurogamer, 2016, https://www.eurogamer.net/well-at-least-one-games-smashed-sales-expectations-this-year
  • “How Farming Simulator 19 sold over one million copies in just ten days”. PC Games Insider, 2018, https://www.pcgamesinsider.biz/success-story/68234/farming-simulator-19-pc-one-million-simulation/