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How to compare your Steam game with similar games
DreamEp, founder of NextWishlist · Updated · 3 min read
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Short answerCompare your game with the upcoming games that share your tags and show in your page's "More like this" row: their Steam followers and growth (about 10 wishlists per follower), their pages, demos and social channels. The gap tells you whether your page, demo or audience is the weak link.
"Is my game doing well?" has no answer in the abstract: it depends on your niche. Comparing yourself with the right games tells you whether your page, your demo or your audience is the weak link. Here is how to pick them and what to compare.
01Pick the right games to compare with
- The games that share your tags: Steam uses tags to decide who to show your game to, so these are the games you compete with for the same players.
- Your page's "More like this" row: if those games don't look like yours, fix your tags first (Steam page guide).
- Upcoming games with a demo, not last decade's hits: they're fighting for the same festivals and creators as you.
- A spread of sizes: a few leaders, and games just above you. The leaders show what's possible; the ones just above show the next step.
02What you can compare from public data
- Steam followers, public on every community hub, and a proxy for wishlists: practitioners estimate about 10 wishlists per follower, 7 to 20 depending on genre (followers to wishlists).
- Their growth, week after week: who is gaining fastest, and right after what (a demo, a fest, a video).
- Their pages: capsule, the first seconds of the trailer, tags, languages, screenshots.
- Their demos: when they released them, and their reviews if the demo has its own page.
- Their channels: followers and recent posts on YouTube, Bluesky, Discord or Twitch, and the formats that work for them.
03Read the gaps
- Fewer followers, similar page: an audience problem. Festivals and creators first (how to get more wishlists).
- Similar audience, weaker page: your capsule, trailer or tags are the bottleneck.
- Leaders all have a demo and you don't: that's your next milestone (when to release your demo).
- They post on a network you ignore, and grow there: try it for a month, with tracked links.
04Start with the free list
Our free top upcoming Steam games by genre list shows the most followed unreleased games with a demo in each genre, with their recent gains, refreshed every day.
05Compare automatically, every day
NextWishlist compares your followers and wishlists with the games that share your tags, in your niche and tag by tag: the top 10 and the fastest growers, on Steam and on each network, with your exact place and your own gain next to theirs. Each morning it tells you which gap to close first. Join the private beta.
06A worked comparison
Say your page has been up for four months with 500 followers, and five games of your niche have between 300 and 4,000:
- Place yourself: at about 10 wishlists per follower, you're in the lower half of your niche.
- Look at growth: if the game at 4,000 doubled in two months, open its page and its channels: what changed? A demo, a festival, a viral clip?
- Compare pages: capsule, first seconds of the trailer, tags, short description. Is yours as clear?
- Compare timing: did they release a demo or join festivals you skipped?
- Pick one gap to close this month, and check the comparison again next month.
How to compare your Steam game with similar games: quick answers
Which games should I compare my Steam game with?
The upcoming games that share your tags and appear in your page's "More like this" row, with a spread of sizes: a few leaders, and games just above you.
How can I see a competitor's Steam wishlists?
You can't directly, but Steam followers are public and practitioners estimate about 10 wishlists per follower, between 7 and 20 depending on the genre.
What should I compare with other Steam games?
Followers and their growth, store pages (capsule, trailer, tags), demos and their timing, and their social channels and formats.
Is there a tool to compare my game with similar Steam games?
Our free top upcoming games list compares the leaders of each genre. NextWishlist, in private beta, compares your own numbers with the games that share your tags, every day.
Is there a Gamalytic alternative for unreleased games?
Sales estimate sites focus on released games. For upcoming games, Steam followers are the public signal: our free top upcoming games list ranks them by genre, and NextWishlist compares your own wishlists with the games that share your tags.
Sources
Valve's rules can change: the official Steamworks page always wins. Practitioner benchmarks are surveys of developers, given as ranges.
- Valve, “Update to Store Tags” (May 2026)
- Valve, Visibility on Steam (Steamworks) (read Oct 28, 2026)
- GameDiscoverCo, “How Steam followers and wishlists relate” (2025)
- Game World Observer, “How to count wishlists based on Steam followers” (GameDiscoverCo data) (June 22, 2023)
- Chris Zukowski, Benchmarks (How To Market A Game) (updated June 2026)
The Steam marketing tool for indie developers.
Wishlist tracking, comparison with similar upcoming games, your page and demo checked against Valve's rules, and a daily plan that ties it together. In private beta.