The Game Census
You Have to Win the Game cover art

You Have to Win the Game

Minor Key Games · 2014-05-06

Steam

ActionIndie

Modes: Single player

Releases: May 06, 2012 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), May 06, 2012 (Linux), May 06, 2012 (Mac)

You Have to Win the Game is a free exploration platformer with a retro 1980s PC aesthetic.

5
playing now
93%
positive of 5.7k reviews
Very Positive
steam rating
200,000–500,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
70/100
IGDB user rating (17 ratings)
2h
time to beat (IGDB)
pending
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Free
steam price (US)

5 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 03:00 UTC (census sample)

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 5 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 64 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~8/week).
  • · Review velocity down 11% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 15% of 10,862 Action games in the census by review count.

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
383820182026Week of 2018-01-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 6 positive
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

902026-08-06 23:00 — 2 players2026-08-07 07:00 — 0 players2026-08-07 15:00 — 2 players2026-08-07 23:00 — 5 players2026-08-08 07:00 — 0 players2026-08-08 15:00 — 5 players2026-08-08 23:00 — 2 players2026-08-09 07:00 — 4 players2026-08-09 15:00 — 3 players2026-08-09 23:00 — 4 players2026-08-10 07:00 — 2 players2026-08-10 15:00 — 4 players2026-08-10 23:00 — 1 players2026-08-11 07:00 — 3 players2026-08-11 15:00 — 3 players2026-08-12 23:00 — 6 players2026-08-14 06:00 — 3 players2026-08-15 14:00 — 5 players2026-08-16 22:00 — 5 players2026-08-18 06:00 — 4 players2026-08-19 13:00 — 7 players2026-08-20 21:00 — 5 players2026-08-22 04:00 — 4 players2026-08-23 12:00 — 2 players2026-08-24 20:00 — 9 players2026-08-26 04:00 — 3 players2026-08-27 12:00 — 3 players2026-08-29 10:00 — 5 players2026-08-30 03:00 — 5 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Completion

15
achievements tracked
94.4%
earned "First of Many"
11.3%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportSteam CloudStatsFamily Sharing

1 supported languages: English

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)19,7333%15

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Player tags

2DIndieRetroActionArcadeAdventureDifficultOld SchoolPlatformerExploration

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Hyper Light DrifterOri and the Blind ForestZigguratChasmChildren of MortaMomodora: Reverie Under The MoonlightPikunikuSemblance

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗