The game surpassed several major titles, but that will undoubtedly change when Rockstar finally announces Grand Theft Auto VI for PC.
While the number of games on wishlists doesn’t exactly match the number of copies sold upon release, these wishlists are not meaningless. Subnautica 2, Forza Horizon 6, and Resident Evil Requiem are on millions of Steam wishlists. Instead of a traditional sales report, the analytics firm Alinea Analytics examined which upcoming titles appear on the most wishlists on Valve‘s platform. They clarified that Steam‘s ranking of the most popular wishlist games includes how quickly a game appears on wishlists. This means that a recently added game can jump to the top of the rankings, even if it is on fewer wishlists than a game that has been available for a longer time.
However, this is not a problem for the game in first place, which has been on wishlists for over a year. According to Alinea Analytics, Subnautica 2 tops the rankings. More than 3.8 million players have added it to their wishlists. Trailing behind with over a million wishlist entries, Forza Horizon 6 is in second place with 2.6 million entries. Not far behind in third place is Resident Evil Requiem with 2.5 million wishlist entries. Additionally, Forza Horizon 6 and Resident Evil Requiem have already sold approximately 250,000 and 220,000 copies, respectively, through pre-orders. Subnautica 2 is not yet available for preorder, so its sales data is unavailable.
“Subnautica 2’s impressive pre-launch metrics are no surprise. The original game has sold 15 million copies across all platforms, and the 2019 standalone expansion, Subnautica: Below Zero, has nearly reached 5 million sales. Steam is the series’ main platform, accounting for two-thirds of total sales,” wrote Alinea Analytics.
Subnautica 2 has been available for wishlisting since 2024, which likely contributed to its first-place ranking. One thing not mentioned is the ongoing legal dispute between Krafton, the owner of the Subnautica IP rights, and the co-founders of Unknown Worlds, the developer of Subnautica.
Source: WCCFTech, Substack, Steam
