Ganger Jan 7, 2017 @ 3:02am
Why can't game sales be based on units sold instead of revenue.
As we all know the top sellers are based on revenue alone but it should also be based on number of units sold. 2016 top 100 best sellers have GTA 5 and Dark Souls III up there (both great games).

But both theses are £39.99 (uk pounds), further down the list we have e.g Euro Truck sim II selling at £14.99.

It would take Euro Truck sim 2 two units for every one GTA5 copy and euro truck came out years ago, I believe euro truck should be closer to the top with other games such as garrys mod which is only £6.99.

It all just seems abit false to base sells on revenue than numbers of copies sold, just my take on things..
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Showing 1-15 of 17 comments
Glimmer Jan 7, 2017 @ 3:15am 
Do you have a source that revenue is the main criteria?

If you're going by this list (2016 Top Sellers you'll notice that CS:GO($15) and DotA2(free) are in the gold bracket. Euro Truck Simulator is a niche game, which by definition has a smaller user base.
Ganger Jan 7, 2017 @ 3:22am 
Revenue is the main source of the top sellers and always was. As stated by valve many years ago. But you may think Euro Truck is a niche game but its got a massive following plus it did come out over 3 years ago on steam and non steam versions way before that.
Glimmer Jan 7, 2017 @ 3:53am 
Originally posted by Ganger:
But you may think Euro Truck is a niche game but its got a massive following plus it did come out over 3 years ago on steam and non steam versions way before that.
It's based on number of sales during 2016, so its greater age may actually be detrimental since any purchases prior to 1/1/16 is irrelevant.

Non-Steam versions just straight up don't count.

Game
Current users
Today's peak
GTA5
93,796
110,457
ETS2
22,651
29,184

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/
Augmenting this discrepancy is that I've never heard of someone getting banned from ETS2 but banns from GTA5 is not unheard of. If you get a ban but still want to play you'ld have to purchase a second (or third/fourth/etc) copy, so even if they had the same sized user base GTA5 would have more sales
Last edited by Glimmer; Jan 7, 2017 @ 3:55am
Start_Running Jan 7, 2017 @ 5:15am 
They both equate to the same thing. That's why.
I think bans represent a very small percentage of GTA V's user base. Both units sold and revenue generated are interesting and valuable statistics and it would be good if Steam could display both.

S.x.
cinedine Jan 7, 2017 @ 6:28am 
Originally posted by gallifrey:
Both units sold and revenue generated are interesting and valuable statistics and it would be good if Steam could display both.

Valuable for whom? The customer? Surely not.
Start_Running Jan 7, 2017 @ 6:49am 
Originally posted by cinedine:
Originally posted by gallifrey:
Both units sold and revenue generated are interesting and valuable statistics and it would be good if Steam could display both.

Valuable for whom? The customer? Surely not.

Well sales units can give an idea of a playerbase size but that winds up being useless in the long run.
wuddih Jan 7, 2017 @ 6:59am 
top sellers is revenue, only and the special list for 2016 was also revenue, only. that is why you very rarely find a sub $10 title in there except when it does exceptionally well.
Satoru Jan 7, 2017 @ 7:23am 
But that doesn't explain then how games like

Rocket League - $19.99 - Platinum

Stardew Valley - $14.99 - Gold
Dead By Daylight - $19.99 - Gold

Payday 2 - $19.99 - Silver - A game that's VERY old
Subnautica - $19.99 Silver

I realize you think the "Bronze" category is some kind of loser tier but honestly in the incredibly crowded field of Steam games to be on the top 100 list at all is incredible. Let alone an ultra niche game with a dedicated fan base

Note also that ETS2 is confounded by the fact that it's primarily popular in Europe, and there the retail prescence of the game is several orders of magnitude larger than in North America. While the fan base is huge its sales are split up between retail and digital sales.

Where as its pretty much impossible to get games like Fallout 4, GTAV, Witcher3 in retail (especially in America) so people who are buying it are more drawn to digital options. Thus making most purchases of those titles primarily digital, and by extension mostly on Steam
Satoru Jan 7, 2017 @ 7:23am 
Originally posted by Start_Running:
Originally posted by cinedine:

Valuable for whom? The customer? Surely not.

Well sales units can give an idea of a playerbase size but that winds up being useless in the long run.

Playerbase is better decided by the # of people actually playing the game rather than # units sold.
Start_Running Jan 7, 2017 @ 7:45am 
Originally posted by Satoru:
Originally posted by Start_Running:

Well sales units can give an idea of a playerbase size but that winds up being useless in the long run.

Playerbase is better decided by the # of people actually playing the game rather than # units sold.

Well Duh. That's why I said it ends up being useless.
Red Shift Jan 7, 2017 @ 8:08am 
Originally posted by cinedine:
Originally posted by gallifrey:
Both units sold and revenue generated are interesting and valuable statistics and it would be good if Steam could display both.

Valuable for whom? The customer? Surely not.

Movies are done on gross, music is done on volume. Both are useful as a guage of sucess and provide a sense of competition. Personally i'd find volume to be of more interest as a consumer.
Last edited by Red Shift; Jan 7, 2017 @ 8:10am
Start_Running Jan 7, 2017 @ 8:15am 
Originally posted by moistly harmless:
Originally posted by cinedine:

Valuable for whom? The customer? Surely not.

Movies are done on gross, music is done on volume. Both are useful as a guage of sucess and provide a sense of competition. Personally i'd find volume to be of more interest as a consumer.

Never mind that all those metrics are skewed to present favourable images.
Note Movies talk about Gross...anyone who knows accounts knows the important figure is the Net.
Originally posted by Start_Running:
Originally posted by moistly harmless:

Movies are done on gross, music is done on volume. Both are useful as a guage of sucess and provide a sense of competition. Personally i'd find volume to be of more interest as a consumer.

Never mind that all those metrics are skewed to present favourable images.
Note Movies talk about Gross...anyone who knows accounts knows the important figure is the Net.

The important figures are the deductibles.

S.x.
cinedine Jan 7, 2017 @ 9:28am 
Originally posted by moistly harmless:
Originally posted by cinedine:

Valuable for whom? The customer? Surely not.

Movies are done on gross, music is done on volume. Both are useful as a guage of sucess and provide a sense of competition. Personally i'd find volume to be of more interest as a consumer.

But what's it to the customer? The gross is completely irelevant if you don't know the production costs. The volume is neither very interesting as it doesn't tell you much besides that many people bought it. It doesn't mean they liked it, it doesn't mean they even listen to it, it doesn't mean they even know they bought it (Bundles ;) )

The most important information to a customer are
- is there an acitve community in case I need help or want to discuss something
- are there enough people to play with

And none of this can even be covered by concurrent player count.

Anything else is just marketing fluff where we lack deeper understanding of. Like Activision boasting CoD had a bazillion units shipped. Or EA telling us they're making a killing from FIFA's microtransactions.

Originally posted by gallifrey:
The important figures are the deductibles.

S.x.

Did you just learn a new word or what? How the deductibles important for someone if he wants to figure out if you made a win or loss on a project?!
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Date Posted: Jan 7, 2017 @ 3:02am
Posts: 17