How to know how many copies of game sold

[Crazywabbit]

How to know how many copies of game sold on steam?

[Wolf Knight]

you ask that games developer/publisher if they are willing to share that information with you. otherwise, you dont need to know.

[Kargor]

Yeah, the publisher can see this, and they also know sales-numbers on other platforms.

These numbers are not public, though.

[wuddih]

https://steamdb.info/
has multiple owner estimations for all products on Steam, they are decently "ok"

[MoonC A T]

Curious why you would care. Wouldn't you care more about the player base as shown on the store page if over a set number (I think 100 or something like that)?

[Crazywabbit]

Thanks, was wondering if the reviews are based on number of games sold, now I know.

[Kargor]

Originally posted by wuddih:

https://steamdb.info/
has multiple owner estimations for all products on Steam, they are decently "ok"

How do you know their estimates are "decently ok"? Ignoring that they probably only estimate sales on Steam, did publishers actually confirm this?

Originally posted by Crazywabbit:

Thanks, was wondering if the reviews are based on number of games sold, now I know.

They are related, usually -- you can expect more reviews if the game sold better.

Be careful, though -- a somewhat specialized game might (the numbers are just made up!!!) get 100 reviews from 150 copies sold, while a generic game for an unspecified audience might get 100 reviews from 10000 copies sold.

[wuddih]

Originally posted by Kargor:

Originally posted by wuddih:

https://steamdb.info/
has multiple owner estimations for all products on Steam, they are decently "ok"

How do you know their estimates are "decently ok"? Ignoring that they probably only estimate sales on Steam, did publishers actually confirm this?

they are estimated owners, not sales.
yes, devs/pubs and these sites may have talked in the past to banter about the accuracy, there even may have been a 11/10 IGN news article about it.
... and i have partner access to a few products and know their accurate numbers

[Satoru]

Please please do not use steamdb or steamspy for sales numbers. It has a lot of limitations and you must understand the context of how things like steamdb and steamspy gather information and HOW you should interpret that information

If you are asking yourself "wait what does that mean" then it means you don't understand it and you should not be trying ot use those websites for that purpose.

[TheVorde]

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[Pierce Dalton]

Originally posted by DeliNarkos:

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You look familiar.

[kitt]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Please please do not use steamdb or steamspy for sales numbers. It has a lot of limitations and you must understand the context of how things like steamdb and steamspy gather information and HOW you should interpret that information

If you are asking yourself "wait what does that mean" then it means you don't understand it and you should not be trying ot use those websites for that purpose.

then why not explain the context and how to interpret things if you insist of people not to use SteamDB or GameSpy?


But you know what an estimation is, yeah? nobody claims it to be accurate. I mean thats why its an estimation..

[Pierce Dalton]

Originally posted by kitt:

Originally posted by Satoru:

Please please do not use steamdb or steamspy for sales numbers. It has a lot of limitations and you must understand the context of how things like steamdb and steamspy gather information and HOW you should interpret that information

If you are asking yourself "wait what does that mean" then it means you don't understand it and you should not be trying ot use those websites for that purpose.

then why you don't explain the context and how to interpret things if you insist of people not to use SteamDB or GameSpy?


But you know what an estimation is, yeah? nobody claims it to be accurate. I mean thats why its an estimation..

Yeah, at the end of the day, I guess that's all we have: an estimation.

Some devs/pubs may announce how many units their games have sold, but that's a rare thing.

Besides, there's no guarantee they're saying the truth... lol

[wuddih]

SteamDB consolidates estimates from multiple sources, for free, that's why i linked that.

VG Insights and PlayTracker are also averaged ranges, hover over to see them.
SteamDBs own estimation is explained on-site. the accurate number is 90+% of the time in that range, no magic, as it is really broad.
VG Insights is "conservative" and undershoots often.
SteamSpy data overshoots massively for f2p games.
PlayTracker is a bit weird and i have never seen their dataset as they seem to be cross-platform.

next time, if the dev/pub of a Steam-only game announces a milestone, simply compare it.

ex:
in october 2022, before the last 3 Steam sales, SCS announced to have sold 13 million copies of ETS2. the game is not really Steam-only as it is available non-Steam but...
https://steamdb.info/app/227300/graphs/
12.27 M .. 36.81 M by SteamDB
~15.40 M by PlayTracker
~11.32 M by VG Insights
~15.47 M by SteamSpy

is that not "decently ok" for the average joe?

i mean ... i would not use it to write a journalistic article about a specific game, but all the mentioned sites and their data can be used to get a really good insight into the market in general or a subset of it ... there is a reason that they are paywalled.

[parowoz]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Please please do not use steamdb or steamspy for sales numbers. It has a lot of limitations and you must understand the context of how things like steamdb and steamspy gather information and HOW you should interpret that information

If you are asking yourself "wait what does that mean" then it means you don't understand it and you should not be trying ot use those websites for that purpose.

what to use then? in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king
so don't give "advices" that won't help anyone (especially in that commanding manner). waste of electronic paper.

[Kargor]

Originally posted by parowoz:

Originally posted by Satoru:

Please please do not use steamdb or steamspy for sales numbers. It has a lot of limitations and you must understand the context of how things like steamdb and steamspy gather information and HOW you should interpret that information

If you are asking yourself "wait what does that mean" then it means you don't understand it and you should not be trying ot use those websites for that purpose.

what to use then?

Nothing. Sales numbers are not available to the public, and these sites are just guessing.