Player stats, sales, and reception speculation thread

[itix]

4. Competition: There is more competition on Steam. There are more games per user & less users per game now than there were 10 to 15 years ago.

There is more competition, but IMO we should only count those games with more than, lets say, 50k sales.

In 2010, there were 2,450 user accounts per game. (2.7m user accounts, 1,102 games on Steam). In 2010, Civ V had the highest peak out of any game. It would be 41st in 2025.
In 2016, there were 1,105 user accounts per game. (12.5m user accounts, 11,309 games on Steam). In 2016, Civ VI had the 4th highest peak out of any game. It would be 20th in 2025.
In 2025, there were 329 user accounts per game. (39.3m user accounts, 119,644 games on Steam). In 2025, Civ VII has had the 38th highest peak out of any game. It would probably be higher if it's launch wasn't split between 2 dates.

This, on the other hand, tells that Steam is a dominant platform for personal computer game publishing. Everyone is publishing their games on Steam, because that is where 85% of the PC game revenues are coming from.
This is not to counter "there is more competition" argument, because there is more competition. Only recently, I found out that Manor Lords, which was a debut game from a small indie studio, sold 1M copies in a week and 3M after 9 months. Their publisher, Hooded Horse, seems to be a rising star. They are also the publisher of Old World.

 

[Maiq]

If you want to be pedantic about it, then even one console of Epic player is already a little better. Or, you could just accept a common phrase and move on.

Unless that console is the Switch and the rest of us have to suffer with a crappier game because of it.

 

[Gorbles]

Unless that console is the Switch and the rest of us have to suffer with a crappier game because of it.

Yes, that's why the PC version of the game can play larger maps with more players.

Oh, right, sorry. You're claiming that PC players are stuck with Switch limits, despite this being factually incorrect? Why?

 

[Maiq]

Yes, that's why the PC version of the game can play larger maps with more players.

Oh, right, sorry. You're claiming that PC players are stuck with Switch limits, despite this being factually incorrect? Why?

Having to reload assets between ages so the Switch can handle it

 

[Kwami]

Unless that console is the Switch and the rest of us have to suffer with a crappier game because of it.

That has nothing at all to do with sales and player numbers, which is what I was commenting on. Please, don't take my writing out of context to make some nonsensical point.

 

[Maiq]

That has nothing at all to do with sales and player numbers, which is what I was commenting on. Please, don't take my writing out of context to make some nonsensical point.

The game being built around all consoles absolutely relates to sales and player numbers but whatever bud.

 

[Gorbles]

Having to reload assets between ages so the Switch can handle it

What's your source for this claim?

 

[Bug Repellent]

View attachment 749436

Thanks for making all these graphs. Much appreciated. It seems Civ7 managed to find its floor, which on Steam, it's ~50% where Civ5 and Civ6 had theirs in their 2 years post release. If Civ7 behaves like the last two installments, we should not expect a significant increase in playership for another year.

I'd still call Civ7's release a disappointment. It boggles my mind the game on a Saturday afternoon in North America, it's largest market, has only 15 viewers on Twitch as I type this. For comparison, Civ6 has 480.

 

[Maiq]

What's your source for this claim?

Common sense.

 

[IntelligentDisk]

There is more competition, but IMO we should only count those games with more than, lets say, 50k sales.

This is only taking into consideration the first 270 days of each of the games (data is only complete until November 3rd 2025):

• Average for Civ VI: 8,735 users per 1k+ review games & 14,645 users per 2.5k+ review games
• Average for Civ VII: 4,820 users per 1k+ review games & 8,430 users per 2.5k+ review games

It's based off 50k sales = 1,000 - 2,500 reviews (I searched this and that's what came up). So around a 42-45% decrease in users per 1k-2.5k review games. The review system wasn't implemented until 2013 so I haven't looked for Civ V.

Civ V and other games show as having reviews before the review system was implemented because any recommendations which players wrote to their friends were added as reviews.

 

[Leucarum]

Common sense.

You're gonna really hate me then. I found I love it on Steam Deck and that's mainly where I play it now. Hooray for console support I say!

 

[aelf]

What's your source for this claim?

Even if they do have a source, the source they cite is likely not to actually say what they claim it says.

 

[Gorbles]

Common sense.

Okay, so none. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Smegger213]

Funny that the last 5 days has seen really small numbers of reviews each day, with today looking to be the same.
I wonder if the November patch novelty has worn off now?
Player numbers are dropping too, with last nights peak being down to 10,326.

Meanwhile Europa Universalis V peak is over 35,000.

 

[IntelligentDisk]

Thanks for making all these graphs. Much appreciated. It seems Civ7 managed to find its floor, which on Steam, it's ~50% where Civ5 and Civ6 had theirs in their 2 years post release. If Civ7 behaves like the last two installments, we should not expect a significant increase in playership for another year.

I'd still call Civ7's release a disappointment. It boggles my mind the game on a Saturday afternoon in North America, it's largest market, has only 15 viewers on Twitch as I type this. For comparison, Civ6 has 480.

Yeah the big growth won't come until more & bigger sales, more updates & expansions come.

Civ VI:

• Year 1: 28,070 average peak concurrent players. Sales ranging: 10-40% Days of sale: 56
• Year 2: 25,844 average peak concurrent players Sales ranging: 33-67% Days of sale: 76; Rise and Fall expansion released
• Year 3: 33,157 average peak concurrent players Sales ranging: 67-75% Days of sale: 106; Gathering Storm expansion released
• Year 4: 42,664 average peak concurrent players Sales ranging: 70-75% Days of sale: 108; 1/2 of New Frontier Pass, Pandemic
• Year 5: 43,722 average peak concurrent players Sales ranging: 75-85% Days of sale: 126; 1/2 of New Frontier Pass, Pandemic

Here's a graph showcasing the full life of Civ VI so far.

• The first 3 spikes are the 2 expansion packs & the pandemic.
• It's all time low was 19,256 (on average) from July 12th to October 19th 2017.
• It's all time peak was at 71,678 (on average) from June 8th to September 15th 2024.
• It dipped to a low of 39,617 (on average) from April 9th to July 17th following the release of Civ VII.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Pandemic is actually really interesting thing. I knew about its effect on streaming services - they had huge growth and struggle now, but I haven't though about its effect on video games. It's pretty logical what games which were active during this period, gathered huge user base.

 

[Maiq]

Okay, so none. Thanks for clearing that up.

You're very welcome

 

[Maiq]

You're gonna really hate me then. I found I love it on Steam Deck and that's mainly where I play it now. Hooray for console support I say!

Because that is an actual car compared to the Switch's Hot Wheels

 

[Leucarum]

Because that is an actual car compared to the Switch's Hot Wheels

Civ7 is fine on console and PC. It's great that Firaxis put the effort into both.

 

[IntelligentDisk]

Pandemic is actually really interesting thing. I knew about its effect on streaming services - they had huge growth and struggle now, but I haven't though about its effect on video games. It's pretty logical what games which were active during this period, gathered huge user base.

March 2020 - February 2021 saw huge year-on-year growth in terms of users and in-game users. User growth was stagnant and in-game user growth was declining from the end of 2017 to January 2020. This year has seen the smallest growth since pre-pandemic in terms of in-game users.