Steamworks wishlist reporting guide
Steam wishlist additions vs purchases vs removals explained
Steamworks reports additions, purchases, and removals as separate wishlist actions. They describe what happened during a reporting period, not three versions of the same total.
Additions count times users added the game to a wishlist. Purchases count purchases associated with a wishlist. Removals, called deletions in Valve’s report and API, count times users removed the game from a wishlist.
Wishlist additions
An addition is recorded when a user adds the game to a Steam wishlist. Daily additions tell you how much new wishlist activity occurred on a date. They are not the current total number of outstanding wishlists.
Valve’s API also returns platform-specific addition fields for Windows, macOS, and Linux browsing preferences. These are subsets based on explicit user preferences and should not be expected to add up to the overall additions figure.
Wishlist purchases
A wishlist purchase is a purchase associated with a user who had the game on a wishlist. It is a conversion event, not a new addition and not the total number of copies sold that day.
The CSV export includes MonthCohort, which identifies the month when the customer originally added the game to a wishlist, and DateLocal, the Pacific Time date on which the game was purchased from that wishlist. These fields make it possible to study how long wishlisted users took to buy.
Wishlist removals or deletions
A removal means a user deleted the game from a wishlist without that action being reported as a wishlist purchase. Valve names this field deletions in the reporting documentation and wishlist_deletes in the API. Many dashboards use the word removals for the same metric.
A removal does not explain why the user changed the wishlist. The report gives a count, not the person’s reason.
Why the numbers should be read separately
These figures answer different questions:
| Metric | What it tells you | What it does not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Additions | New wishlist-add actions during the period | Total current wishlists or sales |
| Purchases | Purchases associated with wishlists during the period | All purchases during the period |
| Removals | Wishlist deletions during the period | Why users removed the game |
Can you calculate the current wishlist total from them?
Do not assume that additions minus removals equals the current wishlist balance. Purchases and gifts are reported as separate actions, and the report fields describe activity within a period. Use the cumulative wishlist total provided by Steamworks when you need the current outstanding number.
How to compare dates sensibly
Compare closed reporting dates with equivalent periods. A single day can be affected by an announcement, festival, discount, launch, press coverage, creator video, or store traffic. Seven complete days are often easier to interpret than one date, especially when weekday patterns vary.
Steam wishlist data updates daily for the previous date. Before comparing two days, make sure both are complete. The guide on Steam wishlist update frequency explains the reporting delay.
Where to find these fields
In Steamworks, open the game in the Sales & Activation Reports portal and select Wishlists. For API access, use IPartnerFinancialsService/GetAppWishlistReporting with a Financial API Group key, App ID, and date.