Computer Wargame Market

Started by ArizonaTank, March 18, 2024, 12:20:14 PM

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ArizonaTank

This may be old news, and if so, I apologize.

I did a deep dive on the "wargame" tag at Game-Stats.com, the place to go if you want to analyze Steam sales. 

It tells an interesting story, about what "wargames" do well commercially, and what ones don't.

"Totally Accurate Battle Simulator" is no. 3, with $43 million in net revenue on Steam. I would have never predicted that.

"Verdun" did $11 million

"Grand Tactician: Civil War" did $1.6 million.

"On the Western Front" a very indie game, developed in Godot, did $12K...not bad.

https://games-stats.com/steam/?tag=wargame

The "tags" report is another interesting one:

There are 1,873 games tagged as "wargames." 65% of those made only $0 to $5K, 13% made $5K to $25K, 9% made $25K to $100K, another 9% made $100K to $1M, and finally 4% made over $1M.

https://games-stats.com/steam/tags/

Anyway, I am not sure the tags line up exactly to what we would all consider to be a 'wargame.' But its pretty close.

Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.

al_infierno

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator being one of the highest grossest "wargames" doesn't surprise me in the slightest.  It seems like the kind of game where a bunch of streamers would do exaggerated reaction videos and drive up sales.
A War of a Madman's Making - a text-based war planning and political survival RPG

It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge.  War endures.  As well ask men what they think of stone.  War was always here.  Before man was, war waited for him.  The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.  That is the way it was and will be.  That way and not some other way.
- Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian


If they made nothing but WWII games, I'd be perfectly content.  Hypothetical matchups from alternate history 1980s, asymmetrical US-bashes-some-3rd world guerillas, or minor wars between Upper Bumblescum and outer Kaboomistan hold no appeal for me.
- Silent Disapproval Robot


I guess it's sort of nice that the word "tactical" seems to refer to some kind of seriousness during your moments of mental clarity.
- MengJiao

Jarhead0331

How accurate do you think those figures are? Are all sales on steam really public?
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


W8taminute

Thank you for this link.  Whether those numbers are accurate or not this is an excellent tool for any game purchaser. 

To see if a game is profitable or not will indicate if it's worth buying knowing there may or may not be post sales support.  IOW before you buy a game you want to know if the developers will continue to patch and optimize the game.

Example - I looked up one of my recent purchases and discovered to date it's losing money in sales.  That tells me that the game will never be developed to it's full potential and that the bug ridden mess I bought was an absolute waste of my very hard to earn money. 

If it sounds like my ass is chapped, that's because it is.  :cussing:  :outtahere:
"You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend."

Romulan Commander to Kirk

ArizonaTank

#4
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on March 18, 2024, 01:42:39 PMHow accurate do you think those figures are? Are all sales on steam really public?

Really good question. I know that number of online players is public, and there are even charts to show peak times. Maybe installs as well? Will try to do a deeper dive when I get time.  If so, then maybe they are deriving the number?

Of course, these numbers are only for Steam. So a company like Matrix or Battlefront clearly has sales outside of Steam.
Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.

Tripoli

#5
Some interesting things: Scourge of War: Waterloo is at $230,000 in sales.  Pretty impressive for a 10+year old engine that many (such as myself) already had  a long time before it came to Steam
B-17 redux is around $42,000.  Not bad for a remaster of a 20 year old game.  Probably the "Masters of the Air" had something to do with it
Command Modern Operations is at $1,700,000.  Pretty good for a game that is 10+ years old and being sold separately through Matrix/Sliterine
Europa Universalis IV: $65,000,000  and that is not counting DLC
"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" -Abraham Lincoln

ArizonaTank

Quote from: W8taminute on March 18, 2024, 03:23:33 PMThank you for this link.  Whether those numbers are accurate or not this is an excellent tool for any game purchaser. 

To see if a game is profitable or not will indicate if it's worth buying knowing there may or may not be post sales support.  IOW before you buy a game you want to know if the developers will continue to patch and optimize the game.

Example - I looked up one of my recent purchases and discovered to date it's losing money in sales.  That tells me that the game will never be developed to it's full potential and that the bug ridden mess I bought was an absolute waste of my very hard to earn money. 

If it sounds like my ass is chapped, that's because it is.  :cussing:  :outtahere:

I agree, these numbers may not be accurate to the penny. But they probably indicate trends.

Crowdrake recently released a couple of games on Steam, maybe he has some thoughts?
Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.

Bardolph

You can compare those stats to the ones here:

http://steamdb.info/sales/

Sorted for wargames here:

https://steamdb.info/charts/?tagid=4684

ArizonaTank

Quote from: Bardolph on March 18, 2024, 11:07:00 PMYou can compare those stats to the ones here:

http://steamdb.info/sales/

Sorted for wargames here:

https://steamdb.info/charts/?tagid=4684

Good stuff! 

Interesting to see that Ultimate Admiral Dreadnoughts, a game that seems to be one of those games where just as many love it as hate it, still gets around 1000 concurrent players.

Also, Rome Total War Remastered is still going strong in terms of players playing the game.
Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.