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[Intheflorsh]

This makes me sad. PSA: Dragonfall is a huge improvement on Returns. If you liked the first one even a little bit, you need Dragonfall.

Really hoping Pillars has a long, long tail. Deserves to do at least as well as D:OS, especially if trash like Skyrim is a multimillion-seller.

A little worried about Invisible, Inc., but maybe those numbers are great for a Early Access title of its kind.

That sucks, but fortunately it probably cost them a lot less to develop the expansion. Plus I doubt they would continue with another sequel if they weren't making a profit. I hope so anyways, they deserve success.

 

[Eternal Gamer]

I just checked some P&C adventures:

The Wolf Among Us 566,608 ±43,018

Kentucky Route Zero 112,639 ±19,199

Machinarium 713,380 ±48,254

Botanicula 359,250 ±34,269

Gemini Rue 232,958 ±27,604

Deponia 399,356 ±36,129

Chaos on Deponia 125,439 ±20,260

Goodbye Deponia 87,893 ±16,960

The Longest Journey 157,865 ±22,727

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey 111,786 ±19,126

Primordia 65,706 ±14,665

The Night of the Rabbit 81,919 ±16,374

Journey of a Roach 86,186 ±16,795

Syberia 236,371 ±27,805

Syberia 2 244,904 ±28,302

The Blackwell Legacy 116,906 ±19,559

Blackwell Deception 73,386 ±15,498

Blackwell Convergence 96,426 ±17,764

Time Gentlemen, Please! 223,571 ±27,042

The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav 138,239 ±21,268

Memoria 74,239 ±15,588

Broken Age 247,464 ±28,449

Gray Matter 32,426 ±10,303

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream 117,759 ±19,631


Maybe the genre isn't rocking the boat, but at least it looks healthy.

 

[Dsyndrome]

If the publisher holdback of info is true... which ones would suck at life that much to purposely hold info back from the folks making the games?

Hopefully it's some simple error.

 

[ExigentContact]

Brutal Legend is just shy of a million, which is pretty impressive for an extremely late port of what is widely considered to be one of Double Fine's more mixed offerings (I still love the game though). I imagine the indie bundle it was part of about a year or two ago probably moved a good bulk of its number.

931,832 ± 55,123

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

So the developer of SteamSpy - Sergey Galyonkin - now tweeted that he has claims from some developers saying that their numbers provided by publisher are WAY LOWER. Seems interesting.
Behold the #STEAMGATE, you saw it here first!

Steam Spy is counting all users whereas a publisher would only report copies that are actually sold. If a game had a Free Weekend or had a lot of codes given out, the SteamSpy stat would be noticeably higher than the actual sales.

Also, I think it's sad that here we have a wealth of up-to-date lifetime information on pretty much every single game on Steam and yet this thread is much less popular than the weekly Japanese sales threads or the monthly NPD thread.

 

[uncredited male]

I feel like more information is necessary before we should jump to any conclusions.

While I agree with you in principle we also get threads based on purely specualtive tweets and rumors.

I guess time will see where this goes.

 

[Shake Appeal]

Kentucky Route Zero 112,639 ±19,199

On the one hand, this probably surpasses their expectations and represents healthy profit. On the other, what the hell are y'all doing that you don't own KRZ?!

 

[TC McQueen]

This makes me sad. PSA: Dragonfall is a huge improvement on Returns. If you liked the first one even a little bit, you need Dragonfall.

I think Dragonfall's issue is that it started out as DLC for an okay game, then changed into a full blown game in its own right, so that incentivized people to wait. Also, it hasn't been on too many sales and bundles, while Shadowrun Returns has been in a few Humble Bundles.

 

[CheesecakeRecipe]

On the one hand, this probably surpasses their expectations and represents healthy profit. On the other, what the hell are y'all doing that you don't own KRZ?!

That number should be a few hundred thousand higher, but I'm honestly extremely happy to see that it's sold even half of what something like Broken Age has. These guys are pretty much unknowns and yet they're ~50% of what an old school titan like Tim Schafer is pulling.

There's probably a lot factoring in here, but still. Really, really happy for Cardboard Computer.

 

[Timurse]

Sergey just said that we should not jump on an assumption train and wait for some further info. He says that SteamSpy also tracks retail activations.

 

[Caesar III]

Just heard from a couple friends that all of their games are within the margins, both games with low and high sales. So the site seems pretty reliable even though it's likely that there are some titles that will be off.

I can second that. A margin of 10 percent only in case of my brother-in-law.

That way the difference for the devs could be brutal if really true

 

[louiedog]

On the one hand, this probably surpasses their expectations and represents healthy profit. On the other, what the hell are y'all doing that you don't own KRZ?!

Waiting for the final episode to be close to release.

If the episodes were 4-6 weeks apart I'd already own it.

 

[Sini]

On the one hand, this probably surpasses their expectations and represents healthy profit. On the other, what the hell are y'all doing that you don't own KRZ?!

Many are waiting for all episodes to be released.

 

[Eternal Gamer]

I just checked some "walking simulators":


The Stanley Parable 1,128,950 ±60,647

Gone Home 572,582 ±43,244

Dear Esther 786,766 ±50,667

Proteus 381,437 ±35,310

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter 180,052 ±24,270


Those are some impressive numbers for a genre that gets a lot of fire in discussions.

 

[Nzyme32]

Steam Spy is counting all users whereas a publisher would only report copies that are actually sold. If a game had a Free Weekend or had a lot of codes given out, the SteamSpy stat would be noticeably higher than the actual sales.

Also, I think it's sad that here we have a wealth of up-to-date lifetime information on pretty much every single game on Steam and yet this thread is much less popular than the weekly Japanese sales threads or the monthly NPD thread.

This is already taken into account; well demonstrated by Saty's comparison of Ars Crawler vs SteamSpy showing that SteamSpy accounts for it. It only falls apart for a period after the free-weekend, which becomes overwhelmingly obvious, after which period it should be corrected.

Also SteamSpy can only check public profiles, and thus not all Steam users - in which case number maybe lower than they should be in some cases.

 

[Teeth]

Also, I think it's sad that here we have a wealth of up-to-date lifetime information on pretty much every single game on Steam and yet this thread is much less popular than the weekly Japanese sales threads or the monthly NPD thread.

I would guess that's due to the title of the thread. I first thought it was going to be about tracking Steam Sales (as in discounts) against activity.

If the the thread title mentioned something about NEW ACCURATE LIFETIME SALES FOR PC GAMES or something, this would probably be a lot more popular.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

On the one hand, this probably surpasses their expectations and represents healthy profit. On the other, what the hell are y'all doing that you don't own KRZ?!

It being an episodic series that isn't done is a big turn-off for me. I mean, I own Broken Age from the Kickstarter but I'm waiting until part 2 is done before I start it. Plus with KRZ being at $25, even in a 50% off sale, it's above my impulse purchase threshold. And in all honesty, I just don't like point & click adventure games as much now as I did when I was a teenager.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Those are some impressive numbers for a genre that gets a lot of fire in discussions.

That fire probably actually helped those games.

No DLC data I assume, but what about stuff like the Skyrim Legendary Edition. Is it just part of the Skyrim sales?

 

[deleted]

Some more sales:

Delve Deeper:
88,746 ± 17,043

Lethal League:
113,492 ± 19,272

Super House of Dead Ninjas:
90,453 ± 17,206

Pixeljunk Monster:
166,399 ± 23,333

South Park: The Stick of Truth
1,042,764 ± 58,297

Anno 1404:
101,546 ± 18,230

METAL SLUG 3:
434,343 ± 37,675

Ms. Splosion Man:
45,226 ± 12,167

Nidhogg:
238,931 ± 27,955

Torchlight:
1,382,388 ± 67,073

Torchlight II:
2,769,042 ± 94,637

Volgarr:
172,372 ± 23,748

DuckTales Remastered:
141,652 ± 21,529

Castle of Illusion:
43,520 ± 11,936

Injustice:
477,862 ± 39,514

Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition
804,686 ± 51,239

TowerFall:
44,373 ± 12,052

Some are standing out as surprisingly good, some as surprisingly bad to me.
I hope this method and site prevails.. I would love for it to be still around at the revival of 3D Platformers.

 

[Kumubou]

Some numbers for fighting games on Steam, which is probably one of the last genres to not really have much penetration in the PC market:

Street Fighter 4: 92,159 ± 17,367
Ultra Street Fighter 4: 459,089 ± 38,731
Street Fighter x Tekken: 81,919 ± 16,374

Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition (MK9+all DLC): 804,686 ± 51,239
Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection: 656,207 ± 46,286
Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition: 477,862 ± 39,514

The King of Fighters XIII: 280,744 ± 30,300
The King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match Final Edition: 17,920 ± 7,659
The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match: 11,093 ± 6,026

Skullgirls: 341,330 ± 33,405

Vanguard Princess: 153,599 ± 22,418

Dead or Alive 5: Last Round: 35,840 ± 10,831

I suspect the USF4 numbers include SF4:AE, since USF4 was a direct replacement (whereas vanilla SF4 is still available on Steam, interestingly enough). The MK arcade collection, KoF XIII and Vanguard Princess have all been in bundles.

It's interesting that those numbers both manage to look relatively healthy and disappointing, since the big series (like SF and MK) did much better on consoles (several million units each, iirc).

 

[Denton]

Also, I think it's sad that here we have a wealth of up-to-date lifetime information on pretty much every single game on Steam and yet this thread is much less popular than the weekly Japanese sales threads or the monthly NPD thread.

Thread title is not interesting enough, plus GAF is very console focused.
I agree that this site should get a lot more attention, the wealth of information is unparalleled.

I just checked some P&C adventures:


Maybe the genre isn't rocking the boat, but at least it looks healthy.

Those are some nice sales. Machinarum is particularly impressive and made by my fellow czechs. Amanita rocks.

 

[Kyougar]

I fear this site will not be available for long either steam changes something in the api or some lawyers are knocking on his door

 

[Shantom]

Some more sales:

Anno 1404 is called Dawn of Discovery in America, so you can add its figures (41,813 ± 11,699) to 1404's total.

 

[alexandros]

It's interesting that those numbers both manage to look relatively healthy and disappointing, since the big series (like SF and MK) did much better on consoles (several million units each, iirc).

Street Fighter used the dreaded GFWL until recently so a lot of copies likely aren't represented in these numbers. As for MK9, how are 800k units disappointing for a port that was released two full years after the console versions?

 

[GhostTrick]

Some numbers for fighting games on Steam, which is probably one of the last genres to not really have much penetration in the PC market:

Street Fighter 4: 92,159 ± 17,367
Ultra Street Fighter 4: 459,089 ± 38,731
Street Fighter x Tekken: 81,919 ± 16,374

Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition (MK9+all DLC): 804,686 ± 51,239
Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection: 656,207 ± 46,286
Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition: 477,862 ± 39,514

The King of Fighters XIII: 280,744 ± 30,300
The King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match Final Edition: 17,920 ± 7,659
The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match: 11,093 ± 6,026

Skullgirls: 341,330 ± 33,405

Vanguard Princess: 153,599 ± 22,418

It actually returns an error when trying to pull numbers for Dead or Alive 5: Last Round. -_- Might be because the game came out on Steam five days ago.

I suspect the USF4 numbers include SF4:AE, since USF4 was a direct replacement (whereas vanilla SF4 is still available on Steam, interestingly enough). The MK arcade collection, KoF XIII and Vanguard Princess have all been in bundles.

It's interesting that those numbers both manage to look relatively healthy and disappointing, since the big series (like SF and MK) did much better on consoles (several million units each, iirc).

Dead or Alive 5: Last Round: Owners: 35,840 ± 10,831

Was ~23k when I looked yesterday, with a 8k margin error.

 

[MUnited83]

I would guess that's due to the title of the thread. I first thought it was going to be about tracking Steam Sales (as in discounts) against activity.

If the the thread title mentioned something about NEW ACCURATE LIFETIME SALES FOR PC GAMES or something, this would probably be a lot more popular.

I thought about something along those lines but considering there's a lot of variables involved I feared that wouldn't go down well.
If anyone has good suggestions for a better title, I will request a mod to change it. Will update the OP in a while as well with the quotes of fellow developer gaffers confirming the accuracy of the numbers.

 

[dLMN8R]

AsTechnica did a ton of legwork before publishing any of their numbers. This included making major changes to their algorithms based on numbers developers privately provided them.

This thing is brand new, and was developed in a bubble without the same access or careful development that ArsTechnica went through.


So it's just a *biiiiiit* premature to assume that if a developer says their publisher told them a much lower number than what this site says, it must obviously mean publisher fraud.

 

[Elija2]

Because I was curious, every Sonic game on Steam (not counting the Genesis ports):

Sonic 4 Episode 2: 112,639 ± 19,199
Sonic All Stars Racing: 119,466 ± 19,772
Sonic 4 Episode I: 133,119 ± 20,871
Sonic CD: 137,385 ± 21,203
Sonic Adventure 2: 216,745 ± 26,627
Sonic Adventure DX: 354,984 ± 34,066
Sonic Generations: 514,555 ± 40,999
Sonic Racing Transformed: 537,595 ± 41,905

I'm not surprised that Racing Transformed sold the best out of all of them, Sumo's support for the PC version was pretty good. Also, I'm kinda shocked that NiGHTS probably sold more than Sonic Adventure 2.

 

[Kyougar]

AsTechnica did a ton of legwork before publishing any of their numbers. This included making major changes to their algorithms based on numbers developers privately provided them.

This thing is brand new, and was developed in a bubble without the same access or careful development that ArsTechnica went through.


So it's just a *biiiiiit* premature to assume that if a developer says their publisher told them a much lower number than what this site says, it must obviously mean publisher fraud.

what about all the devs that say, that these figures are close to their own figures?

 

[Shake Appeal]

It being an episodic series that isn't done is a big turn-off for me. I mean, I own Broken Age from the Kickstarter but I'm waiting until part 2 is done before I start it. Plus with KRZ being at $25, even in a 50% off sale, it's above my impulse purchase threshold. And in all honesty, I just don't like point & click adventure games as much now as I did when I was a teenager.

It's not really a point and click adventure game, though. I mean mechanically, yes, but it's the strength of its writing that should sell people. It literally has the greatest (magical realist) writing of any game I have ever played.

 

[GhostTrick]

It being an episodic series that isn't done is a big turn-off for me. I mean, I own Broken Age from the Kickstarter but I'm waiting until part 2 is done before I start it. Plus with KRZ being at $25, even in a 50% off sale, it's above my impulse purchase threshold. And in all honesty, I just don't like point & click adventure games as much now as I did when I was a teenager.

This: The thing is, it's great to have an amazing episodic game... but I can't stand the wait.

It's not really a point and click adventure game, though. I mean mechanically, yes, but it's the strength of its writing that should sell people. It literally has the greatest (magical realist) writing of any game I have ever played.

KRZ is on my radar... but I'm also holding until it's finished.

 

[dLMN8R]

what about all the devs that say, that these figures are close to their own figures?

Then that's great! It doesn't automatically prove that everything is accurate.

The same thing happened with ArsTechnica's analysis. It was dead-on accurate for many developers, but it was also wildly incorrect for many others.

 

[Almighty]

Well the figures for the Total War series are slightly less then I thought they would be. I also find it interesting they they are up and down. It seems they get some momentum off of a great game(Shogun 2) and then kill it with a mediocre release(Rome 2).

 

[Hellraider]

It's interesting that those numbers both manage to look relatively healthy and disappointing, since the big series (like SF and MK) did much better on consoles (several million units each, iirc).

Not every PC port needs to be Dark souls (sales-wise) to be considered successful. It's not a competition between versions. Almost a million for Mortal Kombat is great, proof of that the day and date PC release of the sequel alongside the current gen versions.

 

[Delusibeta]

Don't devs get the sales data from steam as well? Only the publishers? That seems...dumb

AFAIK the only person who gets to see sales figures is the person who uploads the game to Steam. It would make sense for that to be a publisher employee.

 

[FLD]

I fear this site will not be available for long either steam changes something in the api or some lawyers are knocking on his door

That's what I'm thinking as well. Valve have refused to release sales figures for years, they can't be too happy about this. We all know what happened with SteamDB recently.

 

[MisterShine]

This makes me sad. PSA: Dragonfall is a huge improvement on Returns. If you liked the first one even a little bit, you need Dragonfall.

....

Keep in mind Dragonfall has only been on sale a few times at a significant discount, whereas SRR has been on sale cheap many many times, and was in at least one humble bundle.

Hopefully Hong Kong kicks major ass though =P

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

AFAIK the only person who gets to see sales figures is the person who uploads the game to Steam. It would make sense for that to be a publisher employee.

Normally, it's the publisher (which for many indie games is the same as the developer). Penny Arcade was rather nice & got me a secondary account that's under them that I can use to log in and check out our PA game sales directly; not every developer with a publisher is so lucky.

 

[Shantom]

I thought about something along those lines but considering there's a lot of variables involved I feared that wouldn't go down well.
If anyone has good suggestions for a better title, I will request a mod to change it. Will update the OP in a while as well with the quotes of fellow developer gaffers confirming the accuracy of the numbers.

Perhaps:
SteamSpy - Approximate LTD sales for every game on Steam (Updated Daily)

 

[Almighty]

That's what I'm thinking as well. Valve have refused to release sales figures for years, they can't be too happy about this. We all know what happened with SteamDB recently.

That will just make them go back to the old days of using bots to look at public profiles. Which is what Ars did the first time until Valve contacted them and told them to use this method as it leaves a lighter foot print. Honestly unless Valve sets every profile to private/friends only I think Pandora's box has been open and they have no way to close it.

 

[Saty]

Shame that it is harder to keep track of all bundled copies to get a better read. Although from the info we do have the bundled copies don't account for as much of the total as you'd think.

 

[Nillansan]

Outcast 1.1 7,680 ± 5,014 (meh)

This kind of bums me out, despite the low sales Fresh3D's post-release support has been excellent.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Why is Valve they so protective of sales data anyway?

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Here's our page: http://steamspy.com/dev/Zeboyd+Games

Everything seems fairly accurate to me. Note, we did a promotion with PA3 where it was free for 24-hours - the actual sales are still higher than PA4 but there isn't as big of a gap as it appears.

EDIT: On twitter:
Lars Doucet ن ‏@larsiusprime · 1m1 minute ago
I have 8 independent confirmations that SteamSpy's numbers are accurate within the quoted margin of error:

He's one of the devs behind Defender's Quest.

 

[Qassim]

Why is Valve they so protective of sales data anyway?

I don't think they're protective, I just don't think developers/publishers would like Valve sharing their sales data.

The publishers and developers have access to that data (obviously), it's up to them to share it.

 

[Almighty]

Here's our page: http://steamspy.com/dev/Zeboyd+Games

Everything seems fairly accurate to me. Note, we did a promotion with PA3 where it was free for 24-hours - the actual sales are still higher than PA4 but there isn't as big of a gap as it appears.

I just realized that I own every single one of your games(on that list at least). Though I think I picked them up when they were on sale for a buck or so.

 

[nubbe]

Maybe should try Payday2... have had it for ages and never played it

 

[Kumubou]

How about some doujin games on Steam? (These are broken out by developer/circle

Orange_Juice:

100% Orange Juice: 102,399 ± 18,306
QP Shooting - Dangerous!!: 5,973 ±4,422
Suguri: 8,533 ±5,285
Acceleration of Suguri X-Edition: 8,533 ±5,285

Platine Dispositif:

Bunny Must Die! Chelsea and the 7 Devils: 22,186 ± 8,522
Gundemonium Recollection: 36,693 ±10,960
GundeadliGne: 38,400 ± 11,212
Hitogata Happa: 38,400 ±11,212

Edelweiss:

Fairy Bloom Freesia: 145,065 ±21,787
Astebreed: 71,679 ±15,317
Ether Vapor Remaster: 49,493 ±12,728

Astro Port:

Gigantic Army: 71,679 ±15,317
SATAZIUS: 44,373 ±12,052
ARMED SEVEN: 853 ±1,671

SITER SKAIN:

RefleX: 35,840 ±10,831
KAMUI: 26,453 ±9,306
ALLTYNEX Second: 24,746 ±9,001

EasyGameStation:

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale: 383,143 ± 35,389
Chantelise: 160,425 ± 22,910

773:

Cherry Tree High Comedy Club: 86,186 ±16,795
Cherry Tree High I! My! Girls!: 48,640 ±12,618

Yakiniku Banzai:

War of the Human Tanks: 34,986 ±10,702
War of the Human Tanks - ALTeR: 853 ±1,671

Tennen-sozai:

eXceed 2nd - Vampire REX: 57,173 ±13,680
eXceed 3rd - Jade Penetrate Black Package: 58,026 ±13,782

The following circles/developers only have one game on Steam each:

Studio Pixel -- Cave Story+: 684,367 ±47,265
Smoking WOLF -- One Way Heroics: 224,425 ±27,094
NIGORO -- La-Mulana: 162,132 ±23,032
Tomoaki Sugeno -- Vanguard Princess: 153,599 ± 22,418
Petit Depotto -- Unholy Heights: 122,026 ± 19,983
Lizsoft -- Fortune Summoners: Secret of the Elemental Stone: 117,759 ± 19,631
Zenith Blue -- Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae: 108,372 ±18,832
Flat Software -- eXceed - Gun Bullet Children: 60,586 ± 14,082
Xtal Sword -- Eryi's Action: 50,346 ± 12,837
TORaIKI -- 99 Spirits/Tsukumogami: 43,520 ±11,936
Fly System -- Magical Battle Festa: 32,426 ± 10,303
Cross Eaglet -- REVOLVER360 RE:ACTOR: 30,720 ±10,028
souvenir circ. -- Croixleur Sigma: 26,453 ±9,306
YOTSUBANE/Adventure Planning Service -- Crimzon Clover WORLD IGNITION: 26,453 ±9,306
NEXT-SOFT+ -- Rime Berta: 21,333 ± 8,357
Dracue, Co. ltd -- Armored Hunter GUNHOUND EX: 10,240 ± 5,790
AlphaNuts -- The Sacred Tears TRUE: 7,680 ±5,014

(This isn't counting the multitude of visual novels on Steam now. Someone else can touch that fluffy tail. )

Damn, that's quite the spread, and kind of impressive given that the majority of the games were done as hobbyist projects on the side. I'm willing to bet that almost all of these games have sold more on Steam than they ever did when originally released, when you can only buy them at doujin markets or at some specialty stores on consignment. One thing that can deflate those numbers (a little or a lot) is that almost all of these games have been sold in one or more bundles, either on Steam itself (like the Gundemonium and eXceed bundles) or on other sites. Heck, La-Mulana and QP Shooting are on Humble Bundle right now. I really wonder how much that skews the numbers. I suspect you could probably figure that out a bit by comparing the percentage of owners with no playtime versus a normal retail release, but that would only give a rough approximation.

And yes, GundeadliGne/Hitogata Happa and Croixleur Sigma/Crimzon Clover are reporting identical numbers in SteamSpy.

 

[Grief.exe]

Here's our page: http://steamspy.com/dev/Zeboyd+Games

Everything seems fairly accurate to me. Note, we did a promotion with PA3 where it was free for 24-hours - the actual sales are still higher than PA4 but there isn't as big of a gap as it appears.

EDIT: On twitter:
Lars Doucet ن ‏@larsiusprime · 1m1 minute ago
I have 8 independent confirmations that SteamSpy's numbers are accurate within the quoted margin of error:

He's one of the devs behind Defender's Quest.

How is your new game coming?

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

How is your new game coming?

It's still a few months off but it should come out this year. We released some gameplay footage a few months ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xwRduJKJwc

Here's a post with a bunch of screenshots: http://zeboyd.com/2015/03/12/cosmic-star-heroine-media-kit-and-screenshot-gallery/

Also, we did a Cosmic Star Heroine April Fools Day joke the other day: http://zeboyd.com/2015/04/01/zeboyd-games-is-proud-to-announce-cosmic-star-heroine-legend/