GamerDNA's Left 4 Dead stats reveal power of Steam sales, promotions


Left 4 Dead on PC appears to receive a shot of zombie reanimation every time Valve's Steam service does a promotion, according to proprietary Xbox Live and PC GamerDNA statistics. The chart above, which is calculated based on "equal percentages of Xbox and PC users," shows that engagement on both platforms was almost equal for three months after release. The PC receives its first major bump during Steam's 50 percent off sale in February. Both platforms received a boost with the release of the free Survival Pack, but then engagement spiked dramatically during Steam's "Freaky Free Friday" promotion and stayed strong.

Sam Houston, community manager at GamerDNA, tells us that typically the engagement graphs for games "start high and just drop off." He notes that Steam sales and promotions can obviously give a shot of adrenaline to a game's engagement. He questions, "Could Microsoft do something like that? Then it would appeal to both platforms pretty highly. But, you know, Valve owns Steam and the game, so they have more flexibility."

Tags: gamer-dna, gamerDNA, l4d, left-4-dead, sam-houston, steam, valve

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Joystiq Features





Featured Galleries (view all)

Trauma Team (2/10)
Ancients of Ooga (XBLA)
Need for Speed: Shift Ferrari Racing Pack
Rocket Knight character art
Calling (2.8.2010)
Age of Zombies (PSP and PS3 Minis)
Blaster Master: Overdrive (WiiWare)
Supreme Commander 2
Metro 2033 (02-04-10)

Team Joystiq

Chris Grant

Editor-in-Chief

RSS Feed

James Ransom-Wiley

Managing Editor

RSS Feed

Ludwig Kietzmann

Senior Editor

RSS Feed

Andrew Yoon

East Coast Editor

RSS Feed

Randy Nelson

West Coast Editor

RSS Feed

Justin McElroy

Reviews Editor

RSS Feed

Alexander Sliwinski

Contributing Editor

RSS Feed

Ben Gilbert

Contributing Editor

RSS Feed

David Hinkle

Contributing Editor

RSS Feed

Griffin McElroy

Contributing Editor

RSS Feed

JC Fletcher

Contributing Editor

RSS Feed

Kevin Kelly

Contributing Editor

RSS Feed

Mike Schramm

Contributing Editor

RSS Feed

Richard Mitchell

Contributing Editor

RSS Feed

Xav De Matos

Contributing Editor

RSS Feed

About Joystiq

Joystiq Podcast

New episodes every Friday! Now playing: Joystiq Podcast 125, for Friday, Jan., 29.



Archive | RSS | iTunes