1.0·Every feature free until Premium arrives in October
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition vs Cities: Skylines
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is the more played game right now: 25,418 players on Steam against 11,982 for Cities: Skylines, about 2.1× more players. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition has been ahead for 144 days straight.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition also has the better Steam reviews: 95% positive vs 93%. Across all tracked metrics, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition leads 8 of 10.
Players over time
Live Steam player counts, read every 10 minutes. Both are Strategy games.
Which one have you played more?
Coilr members average 38.5h in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and 50.8h in Cities: Skylines. Connect your Steam account and this row fills in with your own hours instead — then keeps tracking both, so you can see which one you are actually still playing.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
38.5h
average of 32 members
Cities: Skylines
50.8h
average of 127 members
See my hours in both
Free · read-only via Steam OpenID · no password · delete anytime
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
21,790Cities: Skylines
9,009Daily averages · latest day · Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, 2.4× the players of Cities: Skylines
One point per day, averaged · Your time zone · drag or use arrow keys to read the lines
Tracked by Coilr since April 2026 · Read every 10 minutes · methodology
These are Steam players only. A game that also runs on its own launcher, a storefront of its own or on console has players this number cannot see, so read it as a comparison of Steam audiences rather than of total ones.
Head-to-head record
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition has had the higher daily player count for the last 144 days, every day since Coilr began tracking both games.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition led 144 daysCities: Skylines led 0 days
- Days tracked
- 144
- Current streak
- 144 days
- Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
- Lead changes
- 0
- Closest gap
- 45%
- Aug 27, 2026
How this works: each game's daily average concurrent players (from Coilr's own Steam readings), compared on the 144 days where both games have data. Whichever averages higher leads that day.
Side by side
Every number Coilr has for both games. The better figure in each row is in green.
| Metric | Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition | Cities: Skylines |
|---|---|---|
| Players right now | 25,418 | 11,982 |
| 24-hour peak | 27,957 | 12,584 |
| 7-day average | 18,105 | 7,357 |
| 30-day average | 18,750 | 7,465 |
| 30-day trend | +12% | −6% |
| Peak (tracked) | 30,474 | 14,280 |
| Steam reviews | 95% positive | 93% positive |
| Recent reviews (3 mo) | 92% positive | 22% positive |
| Total reviews | 183,437 | 291,047 |
| Owners (SteamSpy est.) | ~2,000,000 | ~10,000,000 |
| Release date | Nov 14, 2019 | Mar 10, 2015 |
| Price | $34.99 | $29.99 |
Players by month
Monthly average and peak concurrent players on Steam, from Coilr's own tracking (readings every few minutes for the biggest games, hourly averages beyond 30 days).
| Month | Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition | Cities: Skylines | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg | Peak | Avg | Peak | |
| Apr 2026 | 19,728 | 20,903 | 6,993 | 9,026 |
| May 2026 | 19,237 | 26,937 | 7,520 | 12,056 |
| Jun 2026 | 17,533 | 28,327 | 8,304 | 14,280 |
| Jul 2026 | 16,903 | 26,598 | 7,946 | 13,414 |
| Aug 2026 | 17,083 | 26,525 | 8,178 | 13,924 |
| Sep 2026 | 17,563 | 30,474 | 7,282 | 12,619 |
| Oct 2026 (so far) | 18,554 | 29,276 | 7,654 | 13,255 |
Frequently asked
Which has more players, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition or Cities: Skylines?
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition currently has more players: 25,418 concurrent players on Steam vs 11,982 for Cities: Skylines, about 2.1× more players.
Is Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition bigger than Cities: Skylines on Steam?
Over the last 30 days Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition averaged 18,750 concurrent players and Cities: Skylines averaged 7,465. By that measure Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is currently the bigger game.
Has Cities: Skylines ever had more players than Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition?
Not in Coilr's head-to-head tracking: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition has had the higher daily average concurrent player count on Steam on every one of the 144 days both games have been tracked.
Is Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition better than Cities: Skylines?
By Steam review score, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition rates higher: 95% positive across 183,437 reviews vs 93% across 291,047 for Cities: Skylines. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition has the larger player base right now (25,418 vs 11,982 concurrent). Player counts, ratings, price and trend are compared side by side above.
Is Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition growing or declining on Steam?
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition averaged 18,750 concurrent players over the last 30 days, up 12% vs the previous 30 days. Its highest tracked player count is 30,474.
Is Cities: Skylines growing or declining on Steam?
Cities: Skylines averaged 7,465 concurrent players over the last 30 days, down 6% vs the previous 30 days. Its highest tracked player count is 14,280.
More comparisons
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition vs Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI
25K vs 43K playing
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition vs Crusader Kings III
25K vs 29K playing
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition vs Factorio
25K vs 21K playing
Cities: Skylines vs RimWorld
12K vs 43K playing
Cities: Skylines vs Factorio
12K vs 21K playing
Cities: Skylines vs Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI
12K vs 43K playing