The importance of wishlists in 2025

Wishlists have long been the main predictor of a Steam game’s launch success. The number of people who have added the game in their wishlist should in theory be indicative of how many sales the game will get once it launches – it is, after all, a strong signal that a person is interested in the game.

What are Steam wishlists? In short, it’s Steam allowing people to add games to their “I want this game” list. Wishlisters get notifications when the game launches, when it’s on discount etc. Their friends will also see these lists and be able to gift them the games.

More recently, the value of wishlists has been questioned. Some developers try to game the system and “fake” wishlists have become a thing. Not all wishlists are created equal either. By being more aggressive at pushing people to wishlist games, developers have increasingly tapped into the more lukewarm audience. If I was semi-forced to wishlist a game, am I really a player with strong intent to buy?

This report explores the data behind wishlists – how important are Steam wishlists in 2025?

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