Steam Reviews Question

At least x number of copies have been acquired by Steam users.
Since not everyone posts reviews of games they buy, how many more sales than reviews might there be if say a game had 12 reviews —roughly of course? I guess I'm just weirded out because I'll go through about 6 pages worth of indi games every so often and there will be really awesome ones that have been out for a month or so with only a few reviews... I think to myself, "Damn, I hope this person has more sales than that with all that work they put in."
I was also reading Misty's "Cantina" post —it's hard to look away from a Misty post— and I don't mind "over saturation" because the market will decide who lives or dies, plus that store is well organized so nothing is gonna get lost in some pile... I just need a better idea of what's going on. Anybody on here with relative success, would you share your story or am I out of line; or worse, are these questions something that've been covered a million times in the threads (I didn't see)?
 
I have read speculation that lower review numbers is like 1 review per 50 - 100. Larger numbers of reviews 500+ reviews it's 1 review per 1,000 - 10,000.

Key reviews don't really count to this number as keys usually mean given out or sold in bundles. So you can end up with a hundred thousand copies floating around out there and still get 0 non key reviews.
 
I have read speculation that lower review numbers is like 1 review per 50 - 100. Larger numbers of reviews 500+ reviews it's 1 review per 1,000 - 10,000.

Key reviews don't really count to this number as keys usually mean given out or sold in bundles. So you can end up with a hundred thousand copies floating around out there and still get 0 non key reviews.
Well that makes me feel more hopeful. I wish they'd post copies sold because that would be an even greater indicator of the worthiness of a game. Yes, many people could swarm and purchase a subpar game and not know it's bad until they play it, but that would come out in reviews. Wow, I feel more relieved that you said that though. Not that it's an exact science, but it's better news than what I thought.
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Also some things to consider:
  • Most people only post a review if they like a game, or really hate it. Forgettable games tend to not get a lot of reviews.
  • You need to play a game for at least 30 minutes to post a review, so games that makes people ragequit (or bore-quit) after 5 minutes will get a lot less reviews (and probably more refunds).
Also, I've seen a lot of games where too much work were put into the wrong things, which limits commercial potential a lot - key example would be Le Fantabulous Game's original version, where the game has like 5-10 hours of content but it's super janky and super unpolished and people mostly played it as a joke rather than enjoying it. It got some fame as a Youtuber / Streamer game but it wouldn't have done very well in stores.
 
Also some things to consider:
  • Most people only post a review if they like a game, or really hate it. Forgettable games tend to not get a lot of reviews.
  • You need to play a game for at least 30 minutes to post a review, so games that makes people ragequit (or bore-quit) after 5 minutes will get a lot less reviews (and probably more refunds).
Also, I've seen a lot of games where too much work were put into the wrong things, which limits commercial potential a lot - key example would be Le Fantabulous Game's original version, where the game has like 5-10 hours of content but it's super janky and super unpolished and people mostly played it as a joke rather than enjoying it. It got some fame as a Youtuber / Streamer game but it wouldn't have done very well in stores.
That's interesting about how sometimes people put a lot of energy in "the wrong things." For the most part, I've seen a lot of indie games that seem balanced in all aspects and everything is proportionate. I've also noticed that it is in fact a strange phenomenon of low-reviewed games on Steam having a lot of views on youtube —nature of the platforms I guess.
 
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