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Steam market reality check: When we released CE1 in Sept 2016, 462 games launched that month. This March it was 1,817 games. That's 4x more releases while Steam users only doubled. Doesn't sound that bad right? It's about catalog size though.... 1/

According to reports, the amount of playtime going to fresh games (released within the last 12M) is less than 10%. That means that 90% of playtime goes to older games. And those 10% include heavy hitters by major AAA publishers, so that leaves indie games with a fraction of available play time. 3/

It is not uncommon that a lot of studios now make more money from their back catalog than their new game releases and are even doubling down on this strategy. Devolver made 88% of its revenue in 2024 from back catalog sales. These games are not going away. 4/

Older studios like Maschinen-Mensch benefit from this, but it is getting increasingly harder for new mid-sized studios to find their footing, hence the rise of solo devs who can afford taking the risk of releasing highly innovative games. /5