How to View How Many Downloads a Game Has on Steam

Steam is the biggest video game digital distribution service on the market. But it’s also a social gaming website where you can buy, play, and talk about games with other players. Sounds like gamer’s heaven, right? – and it sort of is. Users are of different demographics, but the service is unsurprisingly popular among young people. Steam offers a lot of games to choose from. Before you download the one you want, you might want to find out how many other people are playing it. So, is there a way to do so?

Steam Stats

Trying to decide which game you want to download can be kind of tricky. Unless you know exactly what you want, you’re going to be overwhelmed with options – Steam has around 30,000 games on its platform. And this doesn’t include DLC or software, or videos (which adds over 20,000 to the list).

Impressively, this number has grown exponentially over the last year or two. Just imagine, around 9,300 games were released in 2018 alone. In comparison, the number of games added in 2017 was about 6,700. This change coincided with the introduction of Steam Direct.

Steam Direct is an application process for gaming developers. If you’re developing your own game and want it to appear on Steam, you’ll have to pay a $100 fee. However, this fee is returned if your game makes a $1000. The company claims that this makes for a more streamlined and transparent process of application.

Game Stats

One of the perks of online gaming is the player communities. Playing video games doesn’t need to be a solitary activity. For a lot of people, making fun connections is what attracts them to gaming. So, it’s no wonder that before you decide on a game, you want to learn more about the particular player base and how many people are actively playing it. Sometimes, a game might seem interesting to you, but not a lot of people are playing it.

The good news is that you can check and find out all of this before you decide. Valve, the corporation that owns Steam, keeps its own data and publishes it for everyone to see. Finding out how many active players a certain game has, from the time it was released to the present day, is simple.

Steam Charts

All you have to do is type into any search engine “Steam Charts” and the name of the game you want to know about. For example, if you’re keen on playing Grand Theft Auto V and you type the name of the game + Steam Charts, this is the result you’ll see:

This search gives you a lot of information. You get a peak number of players within 24 hour periods, as well as all-time peak numbers. You also get to track the average number of players in the last 30 days, and during every month since the game became available. In addition, you can see gains and losses in percentages to compare with other games.

If you’re not looking for a specific game, however, but are still interested in seeing the charts, you can do that too. Just go to Steam Charts and see what’s going on. You’ll be able to see the top 10 games and the number of current players. This will clue you in to which games are trending at the moment and enable you to track its development.

Other Stats

When it comes to presenting the number of current users at any given moment, Steam website is very transparent. You can see the peak times of users logged in and active over the last 48hrs. Plus, you can see the 100 most-played games and decide whether you’d like to give them a try.

In addition, you can check out Steam Download Stats on the same page. You’ll see a map and by selecting the country you want, you’ll be able to see average download rates for Steam users. This stat might not be relevant to selecting a game, but it’s interesting to see where most of the Steam users are located. The answer is the US and Western Europe. But, other places are on the rise too.

Is Steam Free?

The platform is free and there are a lot of games featured that are as cheap as a few dollars, which is awesome. But, the really good ones, the new releases from well-known developers, are much pricier. Luckily, there are often sales and promotions to look out for. You can also use Steam Waller to buy other content on Steam Store. You can always use your credit card too, but Steam Wallet is a great way for parents to track their kids’ spending – in-game purchases can get out hand fast!

Something for Everyone

Although you can’t find out the exact number of purchases for a single game, you can find out how many people are playing it. This gives you the information you need to make a decision. You might go for the most popular and interact with a huge number of users.

Or maybe you’ll just go for what suits you best. After all, there are tens of thousands of games on Steam; something for everyone to play.

What sort of games would you go for on Steam? And does it matter how many downloads it has? Let us know in the comments section below.