[A] ton of games were released on Steam this year. Valve’s store has seen nearly 13,000 game launches since January 1, 2025, according to Steam data hound Gamalytic, and a majority of those games went straight under the couch to be forgotten for the rest of time like lost batteries.
This sounds like too many games are being made. I suppose a lot of these are hobby/passion projects or learning exercises people have made, but that has to be more games than there is any viable market for.
Ah man, I used to buy whole magazine because of the shovelware CDs on the front. Countless hours were spent installing credit card validators and odd scientific calculators.
There’s a lot of complete trash. Multiple reskins of the same puzzle game with randomly generated names. Bare bones minesweeper clone written entirely by AI, and advertised as such. That sort of thing.
It’s also a marketing problem. I find games all the time on Steam that are a year+ old that I would have bought long ago if I’d even known they existed. It’s a problem with small indie developers - they either don’t know how to or don’t have the money to market their game and just hope putting it on Steam will get it visibility.
It’s not necessarily a marketing problem because it’s not necessarily an economic question. Steam and a few small other platforms like it are the reigning paradigm for indie game distribution, but games aren’t necessarily an economic endeavour. Ars gratia artis is still a thing for a non-zero contingency of creatives.
It’s the same as in any art field I think. Inevitable side effect of the internet and modern technology. I listened to a podcast a while back that had one of my favourite small indie bands as guests, and they were discussing how the same thing applies for music. The market is simply way, way oversaturated.
This sounds like too many games are being made. I suppose a lot of these are hobby/passion projects or learning exercises people have made, but that has to be more games than there is any viable market for.
Just knowing how the internet be, I bet it’s 98% shovelware garbage looking for whales
Just knowing Steam, it’s shovelware.
Ah man, I used to buy whole magazine because of the shovelware CDs on the front. Countless hours were spent installing credit card validators and odd scientific calculators.
Oh hey, this random CD I got from the mail has a screensaver in it!
There’s a lot of complete trash. Multiple reskins of the same puzzle game with randomly generated names. Bare bones minesweeper clone written entirely by AI, and advertised as such. That sort of thing.
Don’t forget the Unity Asset Store free example gamemodes packed with free assets and shoved onto Steam.
Its also that it takes time building an audience, and some devs are awful at setting up their store page.
It’s also a marketing problem. I find games all the time on Steam that are a year+ old that I would have bought long ago if I’d even known they existed. It’s a problem with small indie developers - they either don’t know how to or don’t have the money to market their game and just hope putting it on Steam will get it visibility.
It’s not necessarily a marketing problem because it’s not necessarily an economic question. Steam and a few small other platforms like it are the reigning paradigm for indie game distribution, but games aren’t necessarily an economic endeavour. Ars gratia artis is still a thing for a non-zero contingency of creatives.
While the page is important, there is also the need to get enough attention for the game so that people even visit the store page.
It’s the same as in any art field I think. Inevitable side effect of the internet and modern technology. I listened to a podcast a while back that had one of my favourite small indie bands as guests, and they were discussing how the same thing applies for music. The market is simply way, way oversaturated.