More than 6,000 games have been released on Steam so far this year–and there is still more than a month left before 2017 is out. This number comes from industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, who works for Niko Partners.
As Ahmad points out, 6,000 is nearly equal to the total number of games released on Steam in the decade between 2005 and 2015. It’s up from more than 4,200 games released on Steam in 2016 (via GI.biz). Here is the dramatic-looking chart that Ahmad put together to highlight the dramatic rise in Steam releases.
A quick update to the number of games released on Steam chart.
This is as of early November. Year isn’t over yet and there have already been more than 6,000 games released on Steam this year.
That’s almost as many as the number of games released between 2005 and 2015. pic.twitter.com/RCIUJFprzG
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) November 9, 2017
No doubt a big portion of the new releases this year have come through Steam Direct, which replaced Steam Greenlight earlier this year. Since its launch earlier this year, more than 1,000 games have been released, according to Kotaku.
The flood of new releases is lucrative for Valve, as the company gets a cut of every game sale, while also taking the $100 fee for every Steam Direct application.
In 2014, Valve released the “Steam Discovery” update to help users find what they’re looking for amid the onslaught of new releases. The update added new personalised recommendations based on your gameplay, as well as new search and discovery tools.