Valve: More and More Games Are Finding Success on Steam Each Year

Valve published a new report a few hours ago which details the increasing number of games that are achieving success (according to certain earnings benchmarks detailed beneath) on Steam each passing year.

Information technology is an interesting study that also works every bit a sort of counterargument for those who are convinced that as well many indie games are getting drowned in the massive corporeality of monthly game releases on the platform. Valve clearly feels differently, and they have taken this chance to highlight how exactly opening the gates of Steam in August 2022 enabled many more games to notice success.

Before 2022 Valve actually handpicked the games that would make information technology on Steam. Then they introduced the Greenlight program, now discontinued as well in favor of Steam Direct.

Equally a first laissez passer, we tallied the number of games earning over USD$10,000 in the first two weeks subsequently release each year. For reference, nigh recent games earning around $10,000 in the commencement two weeks earned betwixt $20,000 and $sixty,000 over the course of 12 months following release. We looked at the first two weeks of earnings to give even weight to games released across the year, and considering initial earnings are a key metric that we hear many developers using in chat.

As the graph shows, the number of games meeting this success measure has increased pretty consistently over time, with an 18% increment in 2022 compared to 2022. That increment wasn't just due to a larger number of games on the platform - the proportion of games coming together success increased by 11% in 2022.

You may also notice a leap on the graph between 2022 and 2022. That reflects the increase in the number of games nosotros accepted to Steam beginning in August 2022. Many of these games weren't immediately set for release, so the upshot of that increase only actually shows upwards in 2022. By 2022, more three times equally many new releases met the $10k benchmark than in 2022.

Nosotros plant that the median game released in 2022 earned 24% more during its beginning 2 weeks of sales than the median release in 2022.

Next, nosotros looked at percentiles other than the median. Hither, the news was more mixed. On the upside, the 75th percentile release (meaning the release earning more 75% of new releases in each year, simply less than 25% of new releases) earned 56% more in its first 2 weeks in 2022 vs. 2022. Withal, the 25th percentile release earned 17% less.

More by and large, nosotros found that releases to a higher place the 35th percentile earned more money in 2022 vs. 2022, and releases below the 35th percentile earned less.