Yeah...... that is the assumption I'd had going in, as well. Basically hearing so many times that because Steam is simply so much bigger, no matter what, the game will do better on Steam and give you more visibility than on itch. But after this I can say with certainty that that is not the case (my traffic on Steam is lower than on itch LOL). So I don't know. It likely depends on many factors, including just general appeal. It seems like the free VNs that do well on Steam do very very well. But most other free VNs on Steam do not do very well. So it's probably the case where a free game can break through in spite of the disadvantages in the algorithm if it's very popular and appealing and then do very well, but all other free games generally do middling at best. (Also free games that have paid DLC can do very well because the purchases from the DLC will count as sales and boost it.)
There is also the fact that maybe some ppl talking about how well games do count every "free license" as a "download," when actually 99% of those are bots, because Steam is super botted (like half of my daily traffic is bot traffic lol...) So they look at the large number of licenses and think "wow it's doing great!" When actually those licenses aren't real. For instance, I have over 17,000 "licenses" claimed for the game, but only a bit over 1000 players, i.e., people that actually installed and opened the game. That's an enormous difference. But only the actual players count and help in the Steam algorithm (and are most similar to "plays" and "downloads" on itch.)
Well, for any possible reason, or maybe even that it's just changed a lot in recent years compared to a while ago, Steam is definitely not a guaranteed path to a larger audience by a longshot. And maybe it's also because some games just do better with the audience on itch than on Steam. We'll see, I guess. But this definitely makes me not want to release another free game on Steam hahaha. It's simply too much work to then have it simply be buried.
That's really kind of you to say about my art and means a lot 💕 I actually recently applied for a freelance tax number here, so commissions may be something I can do in the future. However, I can't until my unemployment benefits run out because then I'll lose my benefits 🙃 But doing various freelance and commission work is definitely something I'm considering if I can't find a job (which is looking more and more likely with each passing month lol). At least then I would not go completely broke (we hope).
At any rate, thank you for everything you'd said. Reading it really meant a lot 💕 I do know there are people out there that do enjoy my art and work. But I suppose it's the fact that it's so few and so low-regarded that none of my skills or works can even help me out of my current miserable life situation that is really getting to me LOL Like it makes everything I can do and have done feel rather worthless. So maybe that's where a big part of my current cynicism and hopelessness is coming from. I report to my case worker that I released a game on Steam but it doesn't matter, "I'm not trying hard enough" and I'm worthless and have no skills, I can't even speak German well. So that's not helping things much!!! LOL
Sorry that turned into a vent LOL 🤣 Well. As I said, thank you again, Chim, it really means a lot. Thank you for taking the time to leave such a kind and encouraging message 💕