Anno 117: Pax Romana, the latest entry in Ubisoft’s long-running city-building strategy series set in the Roman Empire, has achieved a monumental launch by shattering franchise sales records, marking it as the fastest-selling title in the Anno series’ 25-year history across its seven installments. Developed by Ubisoft Mainz (formerly Blue Byte), the game released on November 12, 2025, and quickly ascended to the second position on Steam’s global best-seller chart for the week of November 11 to 18, outperforming several high-profile competitors and securing its place among the top revenue generators on the platform, excluding free-to-play titles. This blockbuster debut not only highlights the enduring appeal of the Anno formula—blending intricate economic simulation, historical immersion, and empire management—but also underscores a shift in player preferences toward thoughtful strategy games amid a crowded market of action-packed blockbusters.
In a stunning upset, Anno 117: Pax Romana outsold Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 on Steam during its launch week, with Black Ops 7 debuting a day later yet landing in third place on the same chart, behind Anno and the ongoing juggernaut ARC Raiders. While exact sales figures remain undisclosed by Ubisoft, industry estimates peg Anno’s initial week at between 200,000 and 400,000 copies sold, a figure that propelled it ahead of the military shooter despite the Call of Duty franchise’s massive global footprint. The Steam Top 5 for that period read as follows: first, ARC Raiders; second, Anno 117: Pax Romana; third, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7; fourth, Battlefield 6; and fifth, Steam Deck hardware sales. This performance is particularly noteworthy given Black Ops 7’s concurrent player peak of around 100,000 on Steam—far below its predecessor Black Ops 6’s 315,000 peak from the previous year—suggesting a potential softening in the series’ PC dominance.
Critically, Anno 117: Pax Romana has earned widespread acclaim, boasting an average Metacritic score of 85 and a 94% recommendation rate on OpenCritic, making it the highest-rated entry in the franchise to date. On Steam, it achieved a peak concurrent player count exceeding 50,000—roughly double that of Anno 1800’s 2019 launch—translating to an average daily playtime of 3.7 hours among engaged users, a testament to its depth and replayability. However, the game has faced some backlash in user reviews, earning a “Mixed” rating primarily due to the inclusion of AI-generated assets for background elements, which led to visible glitches like deformed hands and missing heads; Ubisoft has since committed to replacing these with handcrafted alternatives and was the first in the company to include an AI content disclosure on its Steam page. Executive Producer Stéphane Jankowski expressed profound gratitude for the reception, stating, “Anno 117: Pax Romana officially sets sail, marking a new chapter for our beloved franchise… We are humbled by the incredible response from our players. Our team remains dedicated, continuously listening to feedback and striving to deliver the ambitious Year 1 content expanding our game world to the province of Egypt!” This launch not only revitalizes the Anno brand but also signals strong momentum for future expansions in a genre often overshadowed by flashier titles.
Source: SteamDB
