Valve takes stock of Sales on Steam in 2021

Total War: Warhammer II is a technique computer game created by The Imaginative Assembly and also distributed by SEGA. It is the follow-up to Total War: Warhammer and similar to this, it is based upon the Warhammer Dream Fight parlor game. He took place sale on September 28, 2017, for Microsoft, and on November 20, 2018, for macOS and Linux, in some pates created by Feral Interactive. It is the follow-up to the total WAR: Warhammer.

As every year, Valve offers us its assessment of game sales on Steam in 2021. Let's analyze this together.

the bestsellers of the year

As every year, Valve offers a decomposed ranking into several categories: bestsellers, the best-selling novelties, the most popular games, promoted early access, the best VR games and games offering complete compatibility of the controllers. Let's start with the Queen category: Bestsellers. It brings together the 100 games that made the most important turnover between January 1 and December 15, 2021, whether it is sales of games of the game, sales of DLC or microtransactions. The games are then divided between four levels: platinum (12 games), gold (12 games), silver (16 games) and bronze (the rest, or 60 games).

Let's start with a warning: these categories host a fixed number of games and can be misleading. Thus, the thirteenth game the most profit of Steam in 2021 may have only reported $1 less than the twelfth, which may have reported it twice as the eleventh. We can not know it accurately, so you have to be wary of these voluntarily imprecise rankings. Similarly, by definition, this ranking of the bestsellers on Steam does not report... than sales on Steam. In other words, this ranking does not integrate any sales made on other platforms (some games are sold exclusively on Steam, others not) and is therefore not (totally) representative of the overall sales carried out at the course of the year. Let's look at the 12 games that generated the most turnover on Steam in 2021, classified in alphabetical order:

APEX LEGENDS (2020: Bronze) Battlefield 2042 (New) Counter Strike: Global Offensive (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020: Platinum) Dead by Daylight (2017: Silver / 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020: Gold) Destiny 2 (2019, 2020: Platinum) DATA 2 (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020: Platinum) Grand Theft Auto V (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020: Platinum) Nanak: Bluepoint (New) NEW WORLD (New) PUBG Battlegrounds (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020: Platinum) Rainbow Six Siege (2016: OR / 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020: Platinum) WALDHEIM (new)

Let's analyze this together. First, it is absolutely surprising, that people go to Steam to play valve games, namely Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Data 2. These are not the only games with longevity. Impressive: also mention GTA V, PUBG, Rainbow: Six seat or Dead by Daylight, so we'll talk again later. Yet there are actually more new members in this category that last year, since six games are classified platinum for the first time (including four games released this year), compared to five in 2020 and only three in 2019.

It seems harder to hold on the duration, which is particularly noticeable by studying the cases of Fall Guys and Among US, two of the Hits of the year 2020, both classified in platinum at the time: the first is only bronze this year while the second does not even appear in the top 100. We can say as much for Monster Hunter : World (platinum in 2018, 2019, 2020, only money in 2021) or to a lesser extent for Warframe (platinum from 2017 to 2019, Gold in 2020 and 2021), The Elder Scrolls Online (platinum in 2018 and 2019, in 2020 and EN 2021) and Civilization VI (platinum in 2018 and in 2019, gold in 2020, silver in 2021). Seeing half full glass, we can say that new places are to be taken. By seeing it half empty, what to hold on the duration is extremely complicated right now. Note, however, that Dead by Daylight, platinum for the first time for its sixth year of existence, shows the opposite trend.

In addition, a common point is impossible not to notice in the list cited above: All these games incorporate a strong multiplayer dimension. In 2016, the classification included five exclusively solo games; In 2020, there were only one and this category has completely disappeared this year. This does not mean that it is impossible to get imposed without multiplayer mode, but in 2021 you have to go down to the money category to find the trace of games that do not have this feature, which is still revealing the 'evolution of market.

Finally, conclude this segment by zooming in on a license that is close to my heart: Total War. This platinum in 2016 (Total War Warhammer) and 2019 ( Total War Three Kingdoms ), gold in 2017 (Total War Warhammer) and 2018 (Total War Warhammer II) and silver in 2020 (Total War Warhammer II), the deductible goes up bronze this year (Total War Warhammer II yet). This is a logical consequence of the postponement of Total War Warhammer III, but it also confirms the importance of this title for Creative Assembly after years of successful exploitation of the Warhammer.

The news

The classification of a new calculation method a little different: it takes into account only the first two weeks of the games concerned. This gives the case a bit special, like Halo Infinite, who made a better start that It Takes Two (platinum against gold in the ranking of news) but underperformed throughout year (silver against gold in the overall ranking). This is largely related to its late release, but this explanation is not sufficient. To understand this, look at the list of the novelties of 2021, in alphabetical order, with parentheses their place in the general classification:

Platinum

Age of Empires IV (silver) Back 4 Blood (gold) Battlefield 2042 (platinum) Farming Simulator 22 (bronze) 5 Fora Horizon (gold) Infinite Halo (silver) Mass Effect Legendary (Silver) Nanak Blade point (platinum) New World (platinum) Outriders (silver) Resident Evil Village (silver) Latham (platinum)

It is thus found quite easily these titles have in fact experienced a varied success. Battlefield 2042 New World, Nanak Blade point and Latham are four gigantic commercial success this year, with special mention for the last two, which probably cost much less to produce (Latham has already generated a return on investment of more than 50 times the cost of development according Embrace Group ).

It also shows that if Microsoft is present, with three sets of 12 in the rankings, its most prosperous is not license, contrary to expectations, or Age of Empires, Halo NI, but Fora Horizon, the fifth installment outperforms other two new licenses. Incidentally, Fora Horizon 4 and Sea of ​​Thieves are also classified in gold from the general category, confirming the strength of the racing license and endurance of the pirate game, which recently surpassed the five million sales on Steam. Hallo: The Master Chief Collection keeps on him a place in bronze.

In the not phew, one could cite Farming Simulator 22, but the game is in actually doing very well on consoles. However, we can be much more doubtful for Humankind (gold in novelty, generally bronze) Tales of Arise (same) Death loop (gold in novelty, not present in the top 100 overall) and above Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, which is present or in the best 25 new or in the top 100 sales. The game of Lidos Montreal is therefore even worse than Marvel's Avengers, released a year earlier.

Other categories

Here, always in alphabetical order, the top ranked games categories promoted from early access and best games VR :

Promoted from Early Access

Breath edge Chernobyl Draw & Guess End zone GTFO He'll Let Loose Medieval Dynasty Soul Sonata Subnautica Below Zero Totally Accurate Battle Simulator Wyldermyth

Best VR games

Arizona Sunshine Beat Saber Blade & Sorcery Bone works Half-Life: Alex Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades Into the Radius Pavlov RV Super Hot VR The Elder Scrolls V: VR Skyrim The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners VR Banjo

These rankings take into account all income earned from January 1 to December 15, 2021, or, for games released in early access between their full output and 15 December. Only one of the 24 games managed to slip into the top 100 overall: Half-Life Alex, classified bronze (when I told you that people go on Steam to play games Valve...). It is quite paradoxical: while many games have early accessed card this year (Latham platinum Homophobia silver Dyson Sphere Program, Rafting, and Satisfactory Immortal Tale of bronze), who completed their site did not arouse enthusiasm.

Balance Sheet

What to remember this year 2021? The colossal successes of Nanak Blade point, New World and Latham, probably, but also that knowing success does not guarantee to continue on this momentum. It will be interesting to see the evolution of these titles next year, but also to discover what the news will do. There are several very large games on the menu, including fully solitary games: will they manage to reverse the trend?