In April 2018, Valve (owner of Steam) changed its privacy policy. By default, all Steam user profiles were set to (users could no longer be automatically scraped). This change was made to comply with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in Europe.
SteamSpy is a third-party tool that uses publicly available data to estimate the revenue and player count of games on Steam. It was created by Steam user "SteamSpy" (also known as Sergey Galich) and has since become a popular resource for gamers, developers, and industry analysts.
SteamSpy uses a combination of algorithms and data scraping techniques to collect data from Steam's public API and other sources. This data includes information such as: steamspy
The Evolution and Impact of Steam Spy on the PC Gaming Industry
: Tracking concurrent players and average playtimes. In April 2018, Valve (owner of Steam) changed
. SteamSpy +1 Core Data & Free Features Standard users can view basic data for most games, though some stats are now shown as ranges rather than exact numbers to improve privacy compliance. galyonk.in +1 Ownership Estimates: Displays the estimated range of people who own a game (e.g., 2,000,000 – 5,000,000). Price & Discounts: Shows current pricing and active discount percentages. Tags & Categories: Lists user-defined tags (e.g., Atmospheric, Indie, RPG) and official categories like "Steam Achievements" or "Full controller support". Basic Playtime: Provides average and median playtime for the last two weeks and total playtime. Search & Filtering: Users can filter tables by keyword, series (e.g., "Total War"), or release year. galyonk.in +2 Premium (Patreon) Features Advanced data visualization and granular analytics are restricted to "special access" users who support the site: galyonk.in +1 Historical Graphs: Access to precise charts tracking owners and players over time. Geographic Distribution: A breakdown of active players by country. Playtime Distribution: Detailed graphs showing how many hours different segments of the player base have logged. Cross-Ownership Data: Lists what other games are commonly owned by people who have the current game. Tag Trends: Tracking how game tags evolve or trend over time. galyonk.in +1 Limitations Accuracy: Steam Spy is still in beta; data consists of estimates based on a new algorithm following Steam's 2018 privacy changes. Outliers and bugs are possible. Private Profiles: Games owned by users with private profiles are not counted in estimates. SteamSpy +2 Would you like to compare these stats with
UPDATE: I made a tool that can accurately estimate Steam game sales SteamSpy is a third-party tool that uses publicly
SteamSpy can be used for a variety of purposes, including:
: Identifying top publishers, trending genres, and pricing fluctuations. The Technology of Transparency
Steam Spy shifted the power dynamic in the indie development scene by providing data previously only available to major corporations. SteamSpy - All the data and stats about Steam games
is a web-based analytics service that estimates and tracks sales data for games on the Steam platform. Unlike official sales figures (which Valve rarely releases publicly), SteamSpy uses an algorithm to collect public Steam user profiles and estimate how many people own a particular game, how much time they spend playing it, and regional distribution.