Plus: Leave Your Cris Tales at Death's Door?

This analysis examines current and upcoming trends within the PC gaming market, specifically focusing on Steam and the Epic Games Store (EGS) during mid-July 2021. The primary objective is to evaluate game discovery and commercial potential by analyzing follower counts, wishlist rankings, and real-time revenue charts. The scope is global, with specific mentions of regional performance in China and the United Kingdom, covering indie titles, AA releases, and hardware such as the Steam Deck and Valve Index.

Key findings indicate a resurgence in notable releases following major summer sales events. Six titles are identified as having high "Hype" scores for the upcoming week, defined by possessing at least 3,000 Steam followers or approximately 30,000 wishlists. Leading these anticipated launches are Cris Tales and Death’s Door, the latter of which reached the top 80 most-wishlisted games out of over 5,000 unreleased titles. The data also highlights the impact of platform exclusivity transitions, noting the upcoming Steam debuts of former Google Stadia and Apple Arcade titles like Orcs Must Die! 3 and Mini Motorways.

Market performance data reveals that streamer coverage remains a critical driver for discovery, evidenced by Ghost Hunters Corp jumping from 600 to 5,400 followers in a single week. In terms of sustained revenue, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is estimated to have sold between 150,000 and 200,000 copies within its first eight days on Steam. On the Epic Games Store, Chivalry 2 demonstrated significant commercial strength by surpassing Rocket League in gross revenue. Methodology for these insights relies on proprietary Hype charts, SteamDB follower graphs, and manual tracking of top-grossing EGS and Nintendo Switch download charts.