Steam Game Data Scraper

Extract comprehensive game data from the Steam Store — the largest PC gaming platform with 120M+ monthly active users and 70,000+ games. Search games, get detailed info, read user reviews, and check live player counts.

No API key required. Uses Steam's public store API endpoints directly — fast, lightweight, pure HTTP (no browser needed).

What Data You Get

Action	Data Returned
Search	App ID, name, price, currency, free-to-play flag, platforms (Win/Mac/Linux), thumbnail
Game Details	Full metadata: descriptions, developers, publishers, pricing, discounts, genres, categories, release date, platforms, Metacritic score, review counts, age ratings, screenshots, movies, DLC list
Reviews	Review text, positive/negative sentiment, helpfulness votes, playtime at review, total playtime, author info, language, Steam purchase flag
Player Count	Current number of players online in real-time

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
action	String	Yes	"search"	What to extract: search, game-details, reviews, or player-count
query	String	For search	"portal"	Search term for finding games
appids	Array	For details	—	List of Steam App IDs (e.g. ["570", "730"])
appid	String	For reviews/player-count	—	Single Steam App ID
maxItems	Integer	No	20	Max results to return (1–500)
filter	String	No	"recent"	Review filter: recent, all, positive, or negative
language	String	No	"english"	Language for reviews

Input Examples

Search for games

{
    "action": "search",
    "query": "civilization",
    "maxItems": 10
}

Get details for multiple games

{
    "action": "game-details",
    "appids": ["570", "730", "1174180"]
}

Common App IDs: Dota 2 (570), CS2 (730), Red Dead Redemption 2 (1174180), GTA V (271590), Elden Ring (1245620), Baldur's Gate 3 (1086940).

Get negative reviews only

{
    "action": "reviews",
    "appid": "1091500",
    "maxItems": 100,
    "filter": "negative",
    "language": "english"
}

Check live player count

{
    "action": "player-count",
    "appid": "570"
}

Output Examples

Search Result

{
    "appid": 289070,
    "name": "Sid Meier's Civilization VI",
    "price": 59.99,
    "price_currency": "USD",
    "is_free": false,
    "platforms": { "windows": true, "mac": true, "linux": true },
    "type": "app",
    "tiny_image": "https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/289070/capsule_sm_120.jpg"
}

Game Details

{
    "appid": 570,
    "name": "Dota 2",
    "description": "Every day, millions of players worldwide enter battle as one of over a hundred Dota heroes.",
    "developers": ["Valve"],
    "publishers": ["Valve"],
    "price": 0,
    "price_formatted": "Free",
    "discount_percent": 0,
    "is_free": true,
    "genres": ["Action", "Free to Play", "Strategy"],
    "categories": ["Multi-player", "Online Multi-Player", "Steam Trading Cards"],
    "release_date": "2013-07-09",
    "platforms": { "windows": true, "mac": true, "linux": true },
    "metacritic_score": 90,
    "metacritic_url": "https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dota-2",
    "recommendations": 2102329,
    "header_image": "https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/570/header.jpg"
}

Review

{
    "recommendationid": "163842756",
    "author_steamid": "76561198012345678",
    "author_playtime_forever": 4523,
    "author_playtime_at_review": 3200,
    "language": "english",
    "review": "After 4500 hours I can say this game is okay I guess.",
    "voted_up": true,
    "votes_up": 342,
    "votes_funny": 128,
    "steam_purchase": true,
    "written_during_early_access": false,
    "timestamp_created": 1711900800
}

Player Count

{
    "appid": 570,
    "name": "Dota 2",
    "player_count": 682431,
    "checked_at": "2026-03-28T14:30:00Z"
}

Use with Python (apify-client)

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

# Search for games
run = client.actor("cryptosignals/steam-scraper").call(run_input={
    "action": "search",
    "query": "survival crafting",
    "maxItems": 20,
})

for game in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    price = "Free" if game["is_free"] else f"${game['price']}"
    print(f"{game['name']} — {price}")

# Get reviews for a game
run = client.actor("cryptosignals/steam-scraper").call(run_input={
    "action": "reviews",
    "appid": "1245620",
    "maxItems": 50,
    "filter": "recent",
})

for review in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    sentiment = "👍" if review["voted_up"] else "👎"
    hours = review.get("author_playtime_forever", 0) / 60
    print(f"{sentiment} ({hours:.0f}h played): {review['review'][:100]}...")

Handling Bot Detection & Rate Limits

Steam's public API is generally permissive, but high-volume scraping can trigger temporary blocks:

1. Built-in rate limiting — the actor includes delays between requests to stay under Steam's thresholds
2. Use proxies for high volume — if scraping thousands of games or reviews, proxies help distribute load
3. Residential proxies recommended — for large-scale data collection, rotating residential IPs avoid IP-based throttling

For reliable residential proxies, I recommend ThorData — rotating residential IPs that work well for high-volume Steam data extraction.

Limitations

• Steam API may return partial data for removed/delisted games
• Review pagination is limited by Steam's cursor-based API (max ~500 reviews per run for best results)
• Player count is a point-in-time snapshot — for historical data, schedule recurring runs
• Some regional pricing may vary based on the proxy/IP location used
• Rate limiting may occur on very high-volume runs without proxies

Support

Found a bug or have a feature request? Open an issue on the actor's page or reach out through Apify's messaging system.