Recently, data analysis agency GameDiscoverCo released a new report exploring the relationship between Steam wishlists and actual sales.The report pointed out that the sales performance of adult games on Steam is extremely stable and has set a record with the highest wish list conversion rate.

The study analyzed a number of games released between September 2024 and September 2025, revealing the key factors that determine the success of a game after launch.

Researcher Simon Carless said that the market performance of games is affected by multiple factors, including release time, game type, review quality, and even the time interval between the launch of the game page and the official release.Overall, the average wishlist conversion rate is 0.15 (that is, for every 100 players who add to the wishlist, about 15 people eventually purchase the game), which is better than expected.

It’s worth noting that adult games have the highest conversion rates of all categories.The reason for this phenomenon is that "the audience is small but highly engaged", and these players are more likely to convert interest directly into purchasing behavior.Such games have become "outliers" in statistics, significantly boosting Steam's overall sales performance.

In addition, the study also found that the long waiting period for games that were put on the wish list too early caused players to lose interest when they were officially released, thus affecting sales.