Data Mining Steam Reveals Useful Trends for Game Developers

[Terry Olaes]

If you're curious about how PC gaming is doing on Valve's Steam platform, give this article a read. It summarizes the data seen by the Steam Spy tool, which is based on techniques developed by Ars Technica's Steam Gauge project.

The information in this article was gathered with the help of the tool Steam Spy that I’ve developed. Steam Spy acts a bit like an automated exit poll - it queries random user profiles to then extrapolate this data and create a whole picture. This method has its limitations, but it is pretty accurate for owners’ data and usage patterns.

 

[STrAYeR]

Glad I don't have the same taste as them. Those seem really boring games.

 

[GaryJohnson]

Glad I don't have the same taste as them. Those seem really boring games.

Who are them and which are those?

 

[Armenius]

This is a really good article. It goes about tearing apart myths that are prevalent in the marketing and release of games and reinforces the idea that gamers still are your audience. I'm happy to see that the breakdown in sales shows that your average PC gamer (on Steam, at least) is an informed consumer.

Glad I don't have the same taste as them. Those seem really boring games.

That makes you an outlier .

If you read to the end of the article it goes on to laud the successes of Darkest Dungeon, Cities: Skyline, and Besiege as case examples of how to release your game on Steam.