# RAWG Video Games Scraper (`parseforge/rawg-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes video game listings from the RAWG API. Returns each game as a flat row with title, rating, genres, platforms, Metacritic score, release date, and more.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/rawg-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** Games, Other, Marketing
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 85.2% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $19.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

[![ParseForge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/main/banner.jpg)](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp)

### RAWG Video Games Scraper

**Scrape video game data from RAWG, the largest game database, with ratings, genres, platforms, and Metacritic scores.** Get up to a million games per run, filtered by search, genre, platform, score, and release date. No login beyond a free API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

RAWG's official API requires a key and has rate limits, but it is the richest public source of game metadata. This Actor queries the RAWG API directly, applies your filters as it reads, and returns each game as one flat row. You get titles, ratings, genres, platforms, Metacritic scores, release dates, and more, ready for analysis.

| Who uses it | What they scrape RAWG for |
|---|---|
| Game developers | Researching competitor titles and genre trends |
| Market analysts | Tracking game releases and ratings over time |
| Content creators | Building lists of top-rated games by platform |
| Data scientists | Training models on game metadata and scores |

### What it does

This Actor collects video game listings from the RAWG API and returns each game as a flat row with its metadata.

- 🎮 **Game search:** Find games by title or keyword, like "Grand Theft Auto" or "Witcher".
- 🏷️ **Genre and platform filters:** Narrow results by genre slugs (action, rpg) and platform IDs (PC, PlayStation).
- ⭐ **Score filters:** Filter by Metacritic range, e.g. 80 to 100 for critically acclaimed games.
- 📅 **Release date range:** Limit to games released between two dates, like 2023-01-01 and 2023-12-31.
- 🔢 **Flexible ordering:** Sort by relevance, rating, Metacritic, release date, or playtime, ascending or descending.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

### What you can do with RAWG data

**📊 Analyze game market trends.**

A market analyst runs the Actor with a date range and genre filter to see which game types are releasing most and how their ratings trend.

**🎯 Build a recommendation engine.**

A developer scrapes top-rated games by Metacritic score and platform to seed a recommendation system with high-quality titles.

**📝 Create content lists.**

A blogger pulls all games with a Metacritic score above 90 from the last year to write a "best of" article.

**🧪 Train a machine learning model.**

A data scientist collects thousands of game records with genres, platforms, and scores to train a genre classifier.

### Why choose this scraper

|  | What you get |
|---|---|
| **One flat row per game** | Every game comes with its title, rating, genres, platforms, Metacritic score, release date, and more, ready for spreadsheets. |
| **Up to a million games** | Set maxItems as high as 1,000,000 to pull a massive dataset in a single run. |
| **Free API key** | Sign up at RAWG in under a minute, no credit card required, and paste your key into the input. |
| **Export anywhere** | Download results as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or push them to any Apify integration. |

### How it compares

No other Store actor targets RAWG the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

| | RAWG Video Games Scraper | Build it in-house | By hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup | Run it now, zero config | Days of engineering | None, but hours per pull |
| When RAWG changes | Maintained for you | You fix it | You re-learn the page |
| Proxies, retries, anti-bot | Built in | Your problem | Browser only |
| Output | Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export | Whatever you build | Copy-paste |
| Cost | Pay per result | Engineering time | Analyst hours |

### Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a search query, genre slugs, platform IDs, Metacritic range, and release date range, alone or together, and filters run as each game is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

```json
{
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

A larger pull:

```json
{
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

### Pricing

Pay-per-result: **$0.021 per result** collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $2.10 |
| 1,000 results | $21.00 |
| 10,000 results | $210.00 |

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

### Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. [Upgrade your Apify plan](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp) to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

### Run it

1. [Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).
2. Open the [RAWG Video Games Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge/rawg-scraper?fpr=vmoqkp).
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click **Start**.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the **Dataset** tab.

Run it programmatically through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) (`run-sync-get-dataset-items`) or the [ApifyClient](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js) for JavaScript and Python.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to RAWG through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=parseforge/rawg-scraper"
```

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

### Troubleshooting

**Why am I getting no results?**

Check your filters. If you set a search query, genre, platform, Metacritic range, or date range that is too narrow, no games may match. Try removing filters one by one to see which one is causing the issue.

**Why do I get an authentication error?**

Make sure your RAWG API key is correct and has not expired. You can get a new key at https://rawg.io/apiv2-docs. Also check that the key is pasted without extra spaces.

**Why is the run slow?**

The RAWG API has rate limits, so the Actor may slow down if you request many games. Reduce maxItems or add filters to narrow the request. The Actor automatically retries on rate limit errors.

**Why are some fields empty?**

Not all games have every field. For example, some games may not have a Metacritic score or a release date. That is normal and the field will be empty in the output.

### FAQ

| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do I need a RAWG API key? | Yes, you need a free API key from RAWG. Sign up at https://rawg.io/apiv2-docs, it takes under a minute and no credit card is required. Paste the key into the apiKey input field. |
| What is the maximum number of games I can scrape? | You can set maxItems up to 1,000,000 games per run. The RAWG API may have its own rate limits, but the Actor handles pagination automatically. |
| Can I filter by genre and platform? | Yes, use the genres and platforms inputs. Genres are comma-separated slugs like "action,rpg". Platforms are comma-separated IDs like "4,5" for PC and macOS. Leave blank for all. |
| How do I filter by Metacritic score? | Use the metacriticRange input with a comma-separated range, like "80,100" for scores between 80 and 100. This returns only games with a Metacritic score in that range. |
| Can I sort the results? | Yes, use the ordering input. Options include relevance, rating, Metacritic score, release date, and playtime, each ascending or descending. |
| What data fields are returned for each game? | Each game row includes fields like title, rating, genres, platforms, Metacritic score, release date, and more. The exact fields are shown in the sample output. |
| Is there a limit on how often I can run the Actor? | No, you can run it as often as you like. The only limit is the RAWG API rate limit, which is generous for free keys. |
| Can I export the data to Excel? | Yes, the Actor supports export to CSV, JSON, Excel, and XML. You can also push data to any Apify integration like Google Sheets or a database. |

### Related actors

Browse the full [ParseForge collection](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp) for more scrapers.

🆘 **Need help?** Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ **Disclaimer.** This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by RAWG. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.

# Actor input Schema

## `apiKey` (type: `string`):

Your free RAWG API key. Get one at https://rawg.io/apiv2-docs - sign up is free and takes under a minute.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of games to collect per run.

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Search games by name (e.g. "Grand Theft Auto", "Witcher").

## `genres` (type: `string`):

Comma-separated genre slugs (e.g. "action,rpg"). Leave blank for all genres.

## `platforms` (type: `string`):

Comma-separated platform IDs (e.g. "4,5" for PC and macOS). Leave blank for all platforms.

## `ordering` (type: `string`):

Sort order for results.

## `metacriticRange` (type: `string`):

Filter by Metacritic score range (e.g. "80,100" for scores between 80 and 100).

## `dates` (type: `string`):

Filter by release date range in YYYY-MM-DD,YYYY-MM-DD format (e.g. "2023-01-01,2023-12-31").

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/rawg-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "maxItems": 10 }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parseforge/rawg-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call parseforge/rawg-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,parseforge/rawg-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/AOeoKR0jKkvwGGmE5/builds/WMJF7B4ND5DGAHNdp/openapi.json