Nearly 3,800 players were surveyed by the firm GameDiscoverCo as part of a study focusing, among other things, on Steam player ratings and their influence. We are specifically referring here to a title’s Recent Ratings and Total Ratings, not to written comments or reviews.

The study reveals that these metrics play a significant role in the purchasing decisions of community members.

As shown in the first image below, 40% of respondents say they always check these ratings before buying, and 32% do so often. On the other end of the spectrum, 5.6% check them only occasionally, and 2.5% never check them. Another interesting point is that if a game’s rating does not exceed Mostly Positive, 20.3% of players are already less confident about making a purchase.

The study also examines another aspect (Image 2): the difference between recent ratings and overall ratings. On this topic, 32.9% of respondents say they pay close attention to recent ratings, while 47.4% of them say they might look at them but don’t pay much attention to them. Meanwhile, 14.5% say they don’t pay attention to recent ratings; instead, they look at long-term ratings.

For those interested in the topic, you can find the full study here.