Plus: Steam's Top 20 for June 2022

This analysis evaluates the accuracy of proprietary market tracking tools by comparing internal data against official Steam sales performance for June 2022. The primary thesis asserts that tracking the number of player reviews during a game’s first week serves as a highly reliable proxy for actual revenue generation. By comparing a list of top-performing titles ranked by first-week reviews against Valve’s official revenue-based "Top 20" list, the findings show a 65% direct correlation, with thirteen titles appearing on both charts.

Discrepancies between the data sets are attributed to differing definitions of a "new game." While internal metrics focus on initial store debuts, official Steam charts include Early Access titles transitioning to version 1.0, such as Raft and Frozenheim. Additionally, high-priced premium titles—specifically those retailing at $40 to $60 like AI: The Somnium Files—can reach revenue-based top charts despite lower review volumes. To account for this, the analysis suggests that a revenue-adjusted metric multiplying reviews by base price would further increase data accuracy.

The scope of the report covers the global PC market via Steam and the Epic Games Store, alongside console performance on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch in the United States during mid-2022. Key market observations include the continued dominance of established hits like Stray and the successful debut of "cozy" life simulators like Bear and Breakfast. On mobile and VR platforms, the data highlights the strength of family-friendly evergreen titles on Apple Arcade and the significant impact of user ratings on Meta Quest visibility. Methodology relies on a combination of public API data, concurrent user (CCU) counts, and star rating fluctuations to estimate long-term sales potential.