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The importance of wishlists in 2025

Jan 27, 2025·5 min read

Summary

Steam wishlists allow users to add games they want, receiving notifications for launches, discounts, and updates. Friends can see and gift from these lists. Recently, the value of wishlists has been debated as developers aggressively push users to add games, leading to fake or low-intent wishlists.

This report explores the data behind wishlist importance in 2025, questioning whether they still reflect genuine purchase intent or have been diluted by gaming the system.

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