Year and a half ago when Epic Store exclusivity became a thing and when services like GamePass and Origin Access became a thing there was question how those games will do on Steam or outside of subscription services. Unfortunately we have limited data but still enough to see some trends. So let's start.
Sea of Thieves was released on Windows Store more than 2 years ago and it was available on GamePass since day one (service that you can get for 1$). And now more than to years later on June 3rd it was released on Steam. Fast forward to today and we can see that day after day game is breaking concurrent player numbers
an it is trading blows for 1st place on Steam Top Seller list with other titles
And all of that at full price and not that great regional pricing.
Next one on the list is another Microsoft title released few months ago Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Another title that was available on GamePass since Day 1. With over 27K Steam Reviews to date and over 34K concurrent players at launch it was another title that sold well despite cheaper alternative.
We can move now to EA title Jedi Fallen Order. Situation here was bit different because title wasn't available for Basic Origin Access subscription just for Premium one that costs 15$ but it was still cheaper than buying game. And again we saw good numbers that continue to be good (number of Steam Reviews)
Another game that maybe didn't set player charts on fire despite name but did sell really well (according to estimates we have) is Red Dead Redemption 2. Game was 1 month exclusive to R* Launcher and Epic Store with big promotion on R* Launcher still managed to reach over 77K reviews on Steam and estimated sales between 2-3M copies on Steam alone in 6 months (again these are just estimates).
We also have Hades, Epic Store launch exclusive for a year that did incredibly good when it launched on Steam year later. With over 22K Steam reviews (95% positive ones) it is still doing great months later. Some nampkin math estimates even say that sold better on Steam in first few weeks than on Epic Store for entire year but again i repeat those are just rough estimates, we don't have real data.
Borderlands 3 was 6 month exclusive on Epic Store and according to Randy reached 250K concurrent players in launch window on PC. Despite that 6 months later game reached 93K concurrent players on Steam.
Satisfactory was 1 year exclusive to Epic Store and launched few hours ago on Steam and already has 10K concurrent players despite being 10$ cheaper on Epic Store.
And with more people watching it on Steam Store page and Steam Broadcast than on Twitch
These are just few examples. But not all games available on subscription services or ex exclusives did amazing numbers on Steam. One of the bigger ones was Gears 5 that only managed to reach 10K concurrent players. But pricing could be playing good role in that because in Europe alone game was 70 euros.
Metro Exodus managed to reach 15K concurrent players when re-launched on Steam, good numbers but for high profile game like that not that impressive.
Ashen, Operencia: The Stolen Sun and Close to the Sun are smaller ones that also didn't do great on Steam after exclusivity (some of them were also on GamePass).
So overall what is conclusion. Well simple one, put your product on every possible store you can. Various people prefer various platforms/launchers.
Sea of Thieves was released on Windows Store more than 2 years ago and it was available on GamePass since day one (service that you can get for 1$). And now more than to years later on June 3rd it was released on Steam. Fast forward to today and we can see that day after day game is breaking concurrent player numbers
an it is trading blows for 1st place on Steam Top Seller list with other titles
And all of that at full price and not that great regional pricing.
Next one on the list is another Microsoft title released few months ago Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Another title that was available on GamePass since Day 1. With over 27K Steam Reviews to date and over 34K concurrent players at launch it was another title that sold well despite cheaper alternative.
We can move now to EA title Jedi Fallen Order. Situation here was bit different because title wasn't available for Basic Origin Access subscription just for Premium one that costs 15$ but it was still cheaper than buying game. And again we saw good numbers that continue to be good (number of Steam Reviews)
Another game that maybe didn't set player charts on fire despite name but did sell really well (according to estimates we have) is Red Dead Redemption 2. Game was 1 month exclusive to R* Launcher and Epic Store with big promotion on R* Launcher still managed to reach over 77K reviews on Steam and estimated sales between 2-3M copies on Steam alone in 6 months (again these are just estimates).
We also have Hades, Epic Store launch exclusive for a year that did incredibly good when it launched on Steam year later. With over 22K Steam reviews (95% positive ones) it is still doing great months later. Some nampkin math estimates even say that sold better on Steam in first few weeks than on Epic Store for entire year but again i repeat those are just rough estimates, we don't have real data.
Borderlands 3 was 6 month exclusive on Epic Store and according to Randy reached 250K concurrent players in launch window on PC. Despite that 6 months later game reached 93K concurrent players on Steam.
Satisfactory was 1 year exclusive to Epic Store and launched few hours ago on Steam and already has 10K concurrent players despite being 10$ cheaper on Epic Store.
And with more people watching it on Steam Store page and Steam Broadcast than on Twitch
These are just few examples. But not all games available on subscription services or ex exclusives did amazing numbers on Steam. One of the bigger ones was Gears 5 that only managed to reach 10K concurrent players. But pricing could be playing good role in that because in Europe alone game was 70 euros.
Metro Exodus managed to reach 15K concurrent players when re-launched on Steam, good numbers but for high profile game like that not that impressive.
Ashen, Operencia: The Stolen Sun and Close to the Sun are smaller ones that also didn't do great on Steam after exclusivity (some of them were also on GamePass).
So overall what is conclusion. Well simple one, put your product on every possible store you can. Various people prefer various platforms/launchers.
