Hi cristanzackry,
First of all, thank you for giving us the heads up. There seems to be a bit of misunderstanding, though, due to how we calculate the play counts. Before we go any further, we are to blame for the confusion, and we apologize for this.
We calculate the play counts using a set of rules. Currently, these rules are on the very conservative side. For example, until last week, if a person played a game multiple times, it counted it only once, on the first play. I was told that this was to prevent spamming. However, as you can imagine, this caused confusion. Since then, we have been making modifications for a more relaxing play count algorithm.
However, the most significant cause for the discrepancy in the numbers is that we are not including the play counts from the game sessions played on the itch.io web page. Our original sharing methods did not include the HTML export. We added it as a beta feature at the very last minute, without the play count built-in.
It was an oversight, and I apologize for the confusion. I hope the above can clarify the issues, though. I still believe the play count algorithm is a bit too conservative. We will make updates to make it more reliable.
Again, thank you for letting us all know of the issue and providing the opportunity for clarification. If you find anything else unusual or have any suggestions or feedback, please let us know anytime.
Thank you!