Wishlist leaders on Steam 2024: how have summer showings of upcoming games affected performance?

Last week we witnessed the Summer Game Fest exhibitions, as well as an equally popular exhibition from Microsoft called XBOX Showcase. How did the players themselves react to the shown products and how did their opinion influence the list of the most anticipated games on Steam? Let's get to the bottom of it together.

Definitely, we have witnessed a huge number of announcements and new trailers of already known and announced games. Most of them will be released already this year, some of them very soon.

What can we expect already this year?

We will start from those games that are presented by Steam as leaders in the number of additions to the ‘Wish List’. Who doesn't know, this is quite a convenient feature that allows you not to lose the desired game, but to buy it at the most suitable moment: for example, right after the release or during the sale.

What can they offer us? In fact, a lot. The permanent leader is Black Myth from the developer Game Science. For quite a long time the game has been on the top of the list of the most expected games, and the recent start of full pre-orders and publication of system requirements only warmed up the players. Black Myth: Wukong is based on the classic Chinese novel ‘Journey to the West’, which tells about the journey of a Chinese monk and his companion Monkey King along the Silk Road to India for Buddhist sutras. The game will be released as early as 20 August!

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl became noticeably more popular, taking the 4th position in the rating of expected games, the success of which was influenced by a new gameplay trailer. It showed updated graphics, some new anomalies, as well as many other interesting details. Compared to some of the previous trailers, the behaviour and physics of weapons and shooting have improved noticeably, and the lighting has become just great. Lip Sync has become much better to work with Ukrainian voice acting (the trailer was shown on it), in general, it is noticeable a tremendous work on the part of GSC. The most important moment is the release date - 5th of September. According to my observations, it is with the release of the trailer that the developers announce the postponement of the game, but this number has already been shown for the second time to a wide audience. Hence, it is with great pleasure that I can report that the game will be released as early as early September this year.

The sequel to the cult action game Warhammer 40000 is also keeping pace with the leaders. Thanks to the new gameplay trailer, the new part of the series called Space Marine 2 has taken the 6th place in the list of the most anticipated games of this year according to Steam. The game is scheduled for release on the 9th of September, so we can hardly wait!

Among the high-profile announcements COD Black Ops 6 was the least lucky. Perhaps, it was affected by the past unsuccessful releases, or maybe the players are just tired of this series. Either way, despite the new trailers of the game, it remains in the distant top 4 of the list. In any case, perhaps closer to the release date, which is scheduled for October this year, the situation will change for the better.

Conclusions: what is the impact of conferences on the dynamics of game popularity?

Obviously, they have a positive impact. As you can see, many of the Summer Game Fest and XBOX Showcase presentations broke into the top positions mainly after new trailers were shown and extensive marketing work at the conferences.

In any case, we are waiting for at least several upcoming conferences, which have become much more popular after the death of E3. For example, in the second half of June we'll see Nintendo Direct, and towards the end of August Gamescom 2024. Perhaps, we are waiting for a few more high-profile announcements or new shows of previously missed games. Either way, we won't have long to wait for both new announcements and fresh releases. In between releases I can advise you to enjoy the long-awaited summer and pay attention to yourself and your family!