Even Amid Steam Summer Sale – ‘BattleBit Remastered’ Crushes PC Game Competition

Another week into Steam’s major summer sale and “BattleBit Remastered,” an indie game not seeing any sort of discount, remains king of the revenue hill for paid games on the distribution platform.

At No. 1 on the week’s top revenue earners list was Valve’s Steam Deck hardware. Even at a discount, its starting price is $360, meaning the handheld gaming PC is reaping a lot more raw revenue per unit than most games (which typically cap out at $70 a piece, or $15 in the case of “BattleBit Remastered”). Regardless, it tops the chart, which measures by revenue, showing that there’s a dedicated subset of PC gamers who care about being able to take their high-end PC experiences on the go in a way that even gaming laptops can’t offer.

No. 2 on the revenue list was “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,” a free-to-play title known for its competitive first-person-shooter gameplay. It has a vast microtransaction economy built on purchases of in-game items, meaning that its revenue is sky high just about every week, regularly topping the most popular releases in terms of how much money it brings in. It doesn’t gatekeep like games with upfront costs do, so it’s to be expected that “CS: GO,” with its solid foundation and massive community, will continue to generate high revenue streams built off zillions of tiny purchases (other games on this week’s chart reiterate the power of free-to-play titles).

No. 3, “BattleBit Remastered,” was first place as far as the week’s paid games went. Now up to almost 47,000 reviews and an average of well over 60,000 concurrent players, the independent title is making waves most indie titles can only dream of. It’s doing this with a starting price tag of $15. The game is in early access, meaning it’s not in its final form despite allowing players to pay for and play it. As it proceeds through the early access pipeline and eventually properly “releases,” its price could go up. But for now, the impulse-purchase price tag of $15 seems to be serving it well. Two weeks since launch, the game had sold nearly two million units.

No. 4 was “Apex Legends,” a free-to-play battle royale game much like “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” in the sense that it lets players in for free and depends on a microtransaction economy to make its money. Given that it’s just below “BattleBit Remastered” this week and has been on the top 100 revenue earners list for 140 weeks straight, all signs point toward the game doing healthily. Not to mention, Valve only tracks revenue on Steam; “Apex Legends” is an EA game also offered directly through the competing (albeit less popular) Origin storefront, so it’s possibly making more than what’s indicated by Valve’s list.

No. 5 went to indie adventure title “Dave the Diver,” a $20 game ($18 right now because of a 10% launch discount) that’s up to almost 30,000 reviews and an overall rating of “overwhelmingly positive.” It did lose some steam since last week, dropping a spot in the overall revenue rankings, but it remains high on the chart.

No. 6 was “Baldur’s Gate 3,” an early access roleplaying game that released in 2020. It’s now back in the top 10 revenue earners with its official “release” right around the corner, showing how an early access game can benefit from releasing before development’s done then getting a second wind of publicity and hype when the finished product is ready for primetime. It’s not experiencing any discounts at present and has managed the No. 6 spot at its full tag of $60.

No. 7, survival and crafting game “Rust,” has been on the top 100 revenue earners list for 420 weeks, but only recently poked back into the top 10 with its 33% summer sale discount, slicing its $40 tag down to $27. With almost 770,000 reviews, there’s no question the ever-popular game has a big community, but not many paid titles have the power to hit the top 10 so long after release and stay in the top 100 for so many weeks.

Dark fantasy roleplaying game “Elden Ring” came in at No. 8, benefiting from a summer sale discount of 30% (from $60 to $42). Though it’s been in the top 100 for 84 weeks, it’s only recently resurfaced in the top 10 revenue earners during its discount window.

Military shooter “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” took slot No. 9. At 45% off its usual $70 tag, the discount is steep and may be helping lure in stragglers, but “Modern Warfare 2” has done fine in previous weeks without a sale as well (not to mention, this is the game that made over a billion dollars in sales within ten days).

Lastly, there was sci-fi first-person-shooter “Destiny 2” at No. 10, another free-to-play game benefiting from a vast microtransaction economy and huge player base.