As Steam player counts continue to dominate conversations around multiple games, it turns out 45% of you don’t actually care that much for the metric

Steam player counts are an odd metric. They can be a neat insight into a game’s initial popularity (at least on PC), and a handy way of gaining some kind of ballpark on games that keep their active playerbase numbers closer to their chest.

But they’re also unceremoniously used to throw games under the bus—declaring singleplayer games dead when they inevitably see a falloff in the weeks following release, or forgetting to factor in whether the game is in fact also on a bunch of other launchers and platforms.

How much we should pay attention to these player counts has become a more regular discussion as of late, so last week I put the question to you, the readers: Do you actually care about the numbers?

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And, well, nearly half of you don’t. A whopping 45% of you decided that you’d rather just enjoy the game. Which, honestly, is incredibly valid. Especially if you’re just trying to enjoy a singleplayer experience, or regularly hop into a live service game where, as long as you’re finding games and players fast enough, what’s the need to ponder over it?

(Image credit: Future)

But some of you do care, or at least pay a little bit of attention. 32% of you said it’s something you look at—though 15% of that are from people who claim to be Gabe Newell. I don’t quite know how 1,466 of you can in fact be the Gabe Newell himself, but the world contains many mysteries. Maybe this is just one of them.

A further 13% of you said it’s only something you start paying attention to when you’re worried that your favourite game is going to be shut down. Is that the equivalent of looking up your symptoms on the internet when you’re feeling a bit unwell, only to be told that runny nose means you definitely have cancer and are dying as we speak? Maybe, but I definitely understand the anxious desire to check in on a game you’re not quite ready to let go of yet.

And then some of you are just downright mischievous: 10% said you look at Steam playercounts to ragebait Marathon fans. Listen, I’m not here to tell you how to entertain yourselves, but leave those poor Marathon players alone. There are dozens of them!

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If you voted on the poll, feel free to elaborate on the decision you made in the comments down below. And if you somehow missed your chance to vote, here’s your opportunity to let everyone know your opinion.

Me personally? I am a bit of a sicko for looking at the charts. It’s fun to see a big game climb ridiculously high in its opening weekend, and I also love to see a surprise underdog shoot to stardom out of the blue similarly to Peak. But I certainly don’t treat them as gospel.