Skyrim sales numbers, Steam piracy and stuff

[Infinitron]

You dont register it in steam

Right.

That's like "registering" a non-Steam game in Steam. Your friends can see that too, but it doesn't get counted in Valve's statistics.

No no, i dont register the game, it sends the info that im playing it to the automatically. and im guessing it also sends it to steam servers to keep statistics.
Like, someone somewhere installs a pirated version of skyrim, cracks it, opens steam, opens the game, steam lets everyone know he is playing skyrim, steam lets the user use skyrims interface to chat without going to desktop, no need to add anything at all manually.

I'm highly skeptical that this is how it works. Summoning Metro, Bruticis, Multi-headed Cow

 

[Jaesun]

If you have a Steam code, then somebody must have bought it, yeah.

Well, unless somebody at the company did something dumb like generate a bunch of Steam keys for the game and they leaked out, like what happened to Wadjet Eye a while back.

Or review copies....

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

No idea. It sounds slightly plausible since I've had similar results running "Uncracked" Steam games I got from Brut's library while our Steam sharing link was screwed up, and oftentimes pirated DLC will update achievements on Steam just as it would if someone bought it. Generally speaking though pirated copies are cracked so it won't be phoning home to Steam like that, if you're talking about pirates inflating play statistics on Steam I'd say they'd be an insignificant minority since generally speaking they should be spoofing Steam which as you mentioned means they won't attach to an already running Steam account and the closest you can get it adding as a non-Steam game.

All theoretically of course. THIS IS ENTRAPMENT

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I believe what Lhynn means is that Steam may not be able to tell the difference between a cracked game and a bought game sometimes. You start playing, Steam takes a look if you haven't blocked it, and if it sees nothing wrong with the files it considers you have the game and lists it on your library. (assuming you have installed it on the steam folder, my non-removed-from-inventory games are installed somewhere else and blocked on the firewall to make sure)

Maybe it has something to do with some games also being available on disc?

 

[Lhynn]

Nope, it doesnt get added to library CK, it just shows you are playing it and im pretty sure steam servers get that info too.

 

[Metro]

Lhynn has no idea what he's talking about.

 

[Lhynn]

I can do nothing more than share my experience with this. about a year and a half ago i got the pirated version of skyrim, i had left open my steam account when i started the game, it told all my friends that i was playing skyrim and left me in the green status. Steam obviously knew i was playing skyrim, and steam itself doesnt check for files integrity (or maybe it does if the game is not cracked), it only makes sense that it adds it to the statistics as well.

I dont know if its been patched and no longer works, as i said, it was maybe 5 or 6 times 1 1/2 years ago. I know a friend run into the exact same thing with FNV.

 

[Paul_cz]

I can't believe there are people stupid enough to think that Steam statistics are, or ever were, counting non-steam added games, pirated or not. Mind boggles.

 

[dryan]

What is a Steam, some kind of torrent tracker?

 

[Lyric Suite]

What more needs to be said? 6 million copies out of 20 million is a good number, a respectable number. A much higher percentage of PC sales out of total than most AAA games over the past decade. It's still not a majority. but so what.

Aside from Skyrim and Civ 5, all of those games are Valve's. Praise Gaben!

The chart doesn't say much though. Dota 2 is free and Valve has been selling its other games at a pittance ever since Steam started. In fact, it was the first complete pack i bought on Steam, at a whooping 80% off or something. I think Valve games are like the Tom of Myspace.

 

[Lhynn]

I can't believe there are people stupid enough to think that Steam statistics are, or ever were, counting non-steam added games, pirated or not. Mind boggles.

Im talking about steam added games.

 

[A horse of course]

You're not using the "Skyrim interface" to chat Lhynn , you're using the "Steam overlay", which can be applied to pretty much any compatible .exe So when you play a pirated Skyrim on Steam, it's not registering you as playing the official game, it's registering you as playing a "non-steam" title. It may or may not (likely the former) collect individual information such as the name of the .exe and so forth, but it's not counting it as Skyrim. Unless you're also unlocking Skyrim achievements on steam and it's showing up in your official Steam library, AND you can download it from steam after uninstalling, your pirated copy is probably not being counted. Of course we can't know for sure but I find the argument that Steam is unknowing counting pirated games via Steam overlay a rather dubious proposition.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Even with an official, Steam-bought key, if you run the interface mod (which requires a separate .exe), it shows you as "In non-Steam game". And only if you add it to you Steam list in the first place. Steam doesn't tell someone you're in a game if you use a removed-from-inventory game.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I could probably prove that executables you run while Steam is up can show up as you playing the actual game with game time ticking up and all. I'll need a volunteer for this exciting test though. Ed123 hop on CDS assuming I can't rouse Babz or Jews. Assuming it still works like this and Gaben hasn't changed how it works.

Alright, found a candidate. Needed to find one that wasn't completely DRM free and also was Steamworksy enough to want to hit Steam even if you run directly from the .exe. This one is horked from Brut's library though so it may run into additional issues since Steam sharing stuff seems like it gets a slight extra layer of DRM. Will be an interesting test anyway until I dig up some tiny Steamworks proper game in my own list.

Edit: Wrangled the noble TripJack into the experiement. The game is Datajammers Fast Foward, which is currently not listed in Jack's owned/played game list.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Science done. Jack fired the game up and said he got the Steam overlay which was functioning (Not added to Steam as a non-Steam game, just running the executable itself while Steam was up) but it didn't turn him green and it didn't list play time in "Recent game activity" in the Steam profile.

Kinda sounds like Gaben has partially fixed it then. The game is finding and latching on to Steam by doing the Steam overlay but Steam itself is smart enough to realize he doesn't own the game and doesn't list it as being played any more. PRETTY sure it did in the past when I dicked with similar things. Just gotta be sure you're messing with a Steamworks game that wants to look for Steam in the first place. Fair number of games are just straight up DRM free and run with or without Steam if you just do the .exe.

A salute to my partner in definitely not crime Jack.

 

[A horse of course]

Ban Multi-headed Cow for piracy

 

[Clockwork Knight]

It's only a crime if you get caught by Gaben

 

[Raghar]

what actual sales numbers are.

Numbers pulled out of the ass.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

Source for this is some GfK Chart-Track. Who the fuck is that?

GFK is in business for market research. They get sales information from distributors, vendors and retail chains and compile them.
Actually, one of the most reliable sources in Europe for researching retail market share as their reports are fairly detailed.
Their weekly reports cost arm and a leg though.