steammaho.com

We put 84,000 Steam games on one map, arranged by the mechanics they share instead of genre. Games that play alike sit next to each other. Zoom out for continents of design, zoom in for individual games. steammaho.com/map

Of paid Steam games released January to June 2026, 12 in 100 priced $15 to $19.99 have passed 1,000 reviews. At $20 to $29.99 it is 25 in 100, twice as many. Under $5: 1 in 200. This is not price alone: games at $20 and up are usually bigger productions. #gamedev #steam #indiedev

Steam got 76% more new games this September than last September. August: +40%. October so far: +55%. From January to May the gap was 10%. Most of the extra games come from developers with a single release. A release weekday now has about 110 new games, up from 75. #steam #gamedev #indiedev

Next week's launches, forecast Oct 24. Where 8 in 10 similar launches peaked in week one: Emberville (Oct 27) 742 to 71,073 players. Phantom Blade Zero (Oct 28) 5,437 to 248,530. ATMOSFAR (Oct 29) 148 to 37,590. Graded a week after launch, misses kept. steammaho.com/reports/scorecard #gamedev

Four receipts, four hits. Valor Mortis peaked at 5,182 players (forecast 742 to 60,538). Planet Zoo 2: 45,101 (238 to 46,409). Castlevania: 21,745 (346 to 52,694). Tenebris Somnia: 1,141 (84 to 15,270). 15 graded: 11 inside, 4 above, 0 below. #gamedev #steam #indiedev

Who writes Steam reviews? For the typical MMO, 13 in 100 reviewers are writing their first review ever, and 27 own 100+ games. Action and adventure flip it: 7 first-timers, about 40 with 100+ games. Free-to-play: 11 and 30. #gamedev #steam #indiedev

A year after launch, the typical Steam game keeps 15 in 100 of its players (month 12 against its best month of the first three). One in three keeps fewer than 10. PvP games keep 28, free-to-play 26, co-op 21. RPGs 13, horror 12. Games played together hold on best.

How long do people play before they write a Steam review? For the typical crafting game, 14.9 hours. RPGs 13.7, strategy 12.5, simulation 9.9, action 8.6, puzzle 5.7, casual 5.5. Psychological horror: 5.0, the shortest of the big tags. #gamedev #steam

Thursday is launch day on Steam. Of 31,242 games released 2023 to 2025 with 10+ reviews, 7,195 came out on a Thursday, and 19 in 100 of those passed $100k. Friday: 12. Saturday: 7, the lowest. Bigger studios pick Tuesday to Thursday, so the day says as much about who launches. #steam #gamedev

How many players unlock a game's easiest achievement? In the typical Steam game, 75 in 100 of those who start it. The middle achievement: 17. In 1 game in 4, fewer than half get even the easiest one. Incremental games: 94. Cozy: 90. Racing: 67. MMOs: 54. #steam #gamedev #achievements

I tracked 10,310 Steam launches since March. Middle week-one peak by followers before launch: under 300 followers, 1 player; 1,000 to 3,000, 124; 10,000 to 30,000, 2,204; over 100,000, 222,000. 88 in 100 launches opened under 100 players. The ranges are in the chart. #steam #gamedev #followers

Which pasts sell on Steam? Of 749 games set in World War II, 40 in 100 passed $100k. World War I: 37. The Cold War: 36. The industrial age: 31. The 1980s: 1,819 games, only 12 in 100, the lowest of any period. For all of Steam it is 18. #gamedev #steam #setting

How much of a game runs on its own? In 34,349 games, nothing: fixed rules, prepared content. In 1,000, physics, fire, creatures or an economy feed into each other and events unfold that nobody planned. 77 in 100 of those passed $100k; for all of Steam it is 18. Mostly big productions #steam #gamedev

Three receipts, three hits. Gears of War: E-Day peaked at 31,517 (forecast 742 to 71,073). STAR WARS: Galactic Racer: 17,987 (215 to 44,486). Hellraiser: Revival: 9,469 (202 to 44,472). Eleven graded so far: 7 inside, 4 above, 0 below. steammaho.com/reports/scorecard #steam #gamedev #predictions

Stories on Steam rarely split for good. Of 32,504 games with 100+ reviews, 57 tell a story that branches and never comes back together, like The Stanley Parable. 4,759 branch around your choices and then rejoin. 11,577 tell one fixed story. 14,197 have no story at all. #Steam #Gamedev #Narrative

Steam games jump less and loop more. Of 2022's releases with 10+ reviews, 5.7% had jumping as a mechanic; of 2025's, 3.7%. The double jump fell from 2.2% to 1.3%. Roguelike runs went from 4.8% to 9.2%, idle progress from 1.1% to 3.1%, auto-battle from 1.3% to 2.4%. #steam #gamedev #jump

Every game on SteamMaho with a design profile and at least 10 reviews now says what happens when you fail: where you restart and what you lose. 82,259 games. 17% cannot be failed at all; 15% send you back to the start of a run. Free account. steammaho.com/method#failure #steam #gamedev #fail

This week's four launches, forecast Oct 11. Where 8 in 10 similar launches peaked in week one: Valor Mortis 742 to 60,538 players. Planet Zoo 2 238 to 46,409. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse 346 to 52,694. Tenebris Somnia 84 to 15,270. Graded a week after launch. #steam #predictions #gamedev

Where the games are and where the money is. Horror: 5,762 games on the map, 15 in 100 past $100k. Platformers: 4,148 games, 11 in 100. Souls-likes: 315 games, 52 in 100. Team shooters: 855 games, $10.5B between them. For all of Steam it is 18 in 100. #steam #gamedev

Receipt. ACE COMBAT 8: forecast 771 to 68,687, peaked at 52,694. Hit. That makes eight forecasts graded: 4 inside, 4 above the ceiling, none below. Famous names turn followers into players better than the games they are compared with. steammaho.com/reports/scorecard #steam #gamedev #predictions

Three of the four most name-dropped games in Steam reviews are not on Steam. Dark Souls leads: 10,610 reviews of other games name it. Then Mario 8,223, Zelda 5,793, Minecraft 5,432. Mario is named most in racing games, 39 of every 1,000 reviews there. That is Mario Kart. #steam #gamedev

Two prognoses, two misses, both above. Minecraft Dungeons II: forecast 108 to 23,030, peaked at 32,556. DYNASTY WARRIORS 3: forecast 45 to 8,880, peaked at 9,017. Their followings grew 13% and 19% between logging and launch. steammaho.com/reports/scorecard #steam #gamedev #predictions

Which games do people play with their partner? "My wife", "my husband", "my girlfriend", "my boyfriend" appears in 18 of every 1,000 reviews of puzzle adventures, 13 in cooking games, 10 in farming. Strategy games: 2. Action roguelikes: 1 in 2,000. Counted over 1.46 million reviews. #steam #gamedev

There is an island on the map of Steam: 3,960 games whose only tags are Casual, Indie or 2D. Nothing says what they are, so the map has nothing to place them by. The typical one has 25 reviews and $3k in lifetime revenue. 4 in 100 passed $100k; for all of Steam it is 18. #steam #map

Forecast, logged Oct 4. Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival launches Oct 8 with 28,563 followers. Of 147 tracked launches with a similar following, 8 in 10 peaked between 202 and 44,472 players in week one. Same following: Onimusha 85,081, Luna Abyss 300. Graded Oct 15. #steam #gamedev #predictions

Forecast Sep 27. STAR WARS: Galactic Racer launches Oct 6 with 32,533 followers. Of 119 tracked launches with a similar following, 8 in 10 peaked between 215 and 44,486 players in week one. Graded Oct 13. Think it the other way? Log your call: steammaho.com/reports/beat #steam #gamedev #predictions

Forecast, logged Sep 27. Gears of War: E-Day launches Oct 6 with 47,438 followers. Of 85 tracked launches with a similar following, 8 in 10 peaked between 742 and 71,073 players in week one. Graded Oct 13. Think the other way? Log your call: steammaho.com/reports/beat #steam #gamedev #predictions

Receipt. Logged CONTROL Resonant on Sep 14 at 45,334 followers: of 79 tracked launches with a similar following, 8 in 10 peaked between 709 and 68,687 in week one. It launched Sep 24 and peaked at 42,799. Hit. Cozy Game Restoration, logged the same day, moved to Nov 4. #steam #gamedev #predictions

Receipt. Logged SILENT HILL: Townfall on Sep 14 at 19,609 followers: of 184 tracked launches with a similar following, 8 in 10 peaked between 92 and 22,936 in week one. It launched Sep 24 and peaked at 8,318. Hit. Every forecast, graded: steammaho.com/reports/scorecard #steam #gamedev #predictions

Where Steam relaxes. "Relaxing", "cozy" or "chill" shows up in 29 of every 100 reviews of farming games, 28 in hidden object games, 20 in pet care games. In melee combat games it is 2 in 100, in team shooters 1. Same map, 1.46 million reviews, one word. #steam #gamedev #map

Postcard from the deckbuilder region: 1,182 games, capital Slay the Spire. Releases per year went from 12 in 2014 to 246 in 2025. Of the 864 games released 2020 to 2025, 20 in 100 passed $100k and 7 in 100 passed $1M. The money went to the games who got there first. #steam #gamedev #map

Players describe games by naming other games. Dark Souls is named in the reviews of 6,005 other games, one in ten, and only 19 in 100 of those mentions near its own region. 394 reviews say "the Dark Souls of" something: puzzle games 18, platformers 11, racing 8, cooking 3. #steam #gamedev #darksouls

Forecast logged Sep 21. ACE COMBAT 8: Wings of Theve launches Thursday with 47,935 followers. Of 81 tracked of similar launches 8 in 10 peaked between 771 and 68,687 players in week one. Graded Oct 9. Also Rayman Legends Retold 45 to 9,731 steammaho.com/reports/scorecard #steam #gamedev #prediction

Steam games as an atlas. 83,701 games placed by design similarity: the closer two sit, the more mechanics and tags they share. Relief = how densely games are packed. Capital = its most-reviewed game whose tags carry the region's name. Poster: steammaho.com/static/map/atlas_v3_1.jpg #steam #gamedev

Forecast, Sep 21. Minecraft Dungeons II launches Tuesday with 20,625 followers. Of 188 tracked launches with a similar following 8 in 10 peaked between 108 and 23,030 players in week one. Graded Oct 7. Also: Dynasty Warriors 3 Remastered, 45 to 8,880. steammaho.com/reports/scorecard #gamedev #steam

Receipt. We logged Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter on Sep 14 at 12,650 followers: of 262 tracked launches with a similar following, 8 in 10 peaked between 55 and 12,776 in week one. It launched Sep 17 and peaked at 15,335. Miss, 20% over the ceiling. #steam #gamedev #prediction

Median followers on launch day, by how long the page was up: under two weeks, 2. Up to two months, 3. Two to three months, 11. Over three months, 49. Established publishers who rushed a page out: 7 followers, 12 reviews, against 170 for their peers. #steam #followers #gamedev

The Steam launch pattern is the two-week page: 1,714 games since April, nearly a third of launches, put the store page up 4 to 14 days before release. One in five reached ten reviews. Page up two to three months: 43%. Same price band, same first-time developers, the curve holds. #steam #gamedev

Shadow drops don't happen on Steam. Of 5,911 games released April to mid-August whose store page we watched appear, 43 launched with a page under four days old. The list: mod kits, server tools, re-releases of old games, one free incremental. No major publisher did it. #steam #gamedev #shadowdrops

We read the player count of every Steam game with 50+ reviews: 44,472 games. Sunday's reading: 53% had nobody playing at that moment. 29% had 1 to 9 players, 12% had 10 to 99, 657 games had 1,000 or more. Games with 50 to 99 reviews: 82% empty. Games with 10,000+: 1% #steam #gamedev #graveyard

Forecast, logged Sep14. CONTROL Resonant launches Sep24 with 45334 followers. Of 79 tracked launches with a similar following, 8 in 10 peaked between 709 and 68687 players in week one. Graded Oct 2. Also logged: Cozy Game Restoration 45 to 8659. steammaho.com/reports/scorecard #gamedev #predictions

What do you actually play dna.steammaho.com #steam #gamedev #pcmasterrace

Forecast, logged Sep 14. SILENT HILL: Townfall launches Wednesday with 19,609 followers. Of 184 tracked launches with a similar following, 8 in 10 peaked between 92 and 22,936 players in week one. We grade it Oct 1, hit or miss, on the public scorecard: steammaho.com/reports/scorecard

Copies sold per Steam review, 230 games with disclosed sales. Under 1,000 sales: 10 per review. 1,000 to 9,999: 32. 10,000 to 49,999: 57. 50,000 to 99,999: 63. Past a million: 41. Small games get more reviews per copy. One number for all games misses at both ends. steammaho.com/reports/scorecard

WWII games released since 2023 reach 1,000 reviews 79% more often than games of the same genre, age and price model usually do. Mythology: 53% more often. Historical: 42%. Cyberpunk: 29% less often. 1980s: 45% less. Setting is its own effect, separate from genre. steammaho.com/news

Receipt. On Sep 3 we logged Halloween: The Game at 21,306 followers: 8 in 10 similar launches peaked between 103 and 23,030. It peaked at 33,639. Miss, 46% above the ceiling. Our follower count was 23 days old at logging (Steam throttles those reads); counts are now refreshed within days of launch.

Forecast, logged Sep 14. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV launches Thursday with 89,619 followers. Of 44 tracked launches with a similar following, 8 in 10 peaked between 2,690 and 85,081 players in week one. Graded Sep 25. Also logged: Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, 55 to 12,776.

Receipt. On Sep 3 we logged Dungeon Settlers at 13,573 followers: of 231 tracked launches with a similar following, 8 in 10 peaked between 68 and 12,776 players in week one. It launched Sep 4 and peaked at 4,953. Inside the range. Every forecast, graded: steammaho.com/reports/scorecard