Is the biblical flood of games coming to market good for the industry?

[ZedClampet]

TLDR: More than 12,000 games are coming to Steam every year now. I suggest it's good for gamers, bad for small or solo developers, but how this impacts AAA studios is uncertain.

What is the impact of more than 12,000 games coming to Steam every year?

Gamers (Especially niche gamers)
For gamers, especially niche gamers, this is almost too good to be true. Every type of game imaginable is having new entries coming out all the time. This wasn't true just a few years ago. I, for instance, like retail economy games, and so far this year we've had several good ones with several more on the way. Even getting very specific, like movie studio or hospital management games, shows a good number of entries.

For instance, here are the movie studio games that have either just released or are releasing soon (in the next few months):

Blockbuster Inc. on Steam

Ever dreamed of making your own movies? Build up your own movie studio, scout for upcoming stars, and produce cutting-edge films and TV shows. Try to stay ahead of your competition throughout the history of cinematography.

store.steampowered.com

Movies Tycoon on Steam

Movies Tycoon is a simulation game where you dive into the world of film-making. Start with a humble studio, scout and manage top talent, customize unique characters, and direct blockbuster films.

store.steampowered.com

Hollywood Animal on Steam

Make your dreams come true — or crush someone else’s. Take the helm of a major Hollywood studio at the dawn of sound cinema, and guide it through decades of creative achievements and glamor, debauchery and dark deeds, tough choices and unpleasant compromises.

store.steampowered.com

The Executive - A Movie Industry Tycoon on Steam

Shape the history of the Hollywood movie industry in this sandbox business simulation game. Create the movies you've always wanted to see, hire the best team, research cutting-edge technologies, and dominate the Box Office. Can you rise from a small studio to a Hollywood giant?

store.steampowered.com

The entire management/economy/tycoon game genre is booming, from taverns, to hotels, to blacksmiths--you name it, they are here in droves.

And it's not just these more niche games. Pretty much every type of game is represented.

The Industry
On the one hand, it's great that anyone can make and sell a game these days, but it has to be tougher than ever on small or solo devs. There are just too many games for most of them to get noticed.

AAA studios don't seem to be impacted as much. The top 100 games on Steam account for 90 percent of the sales revenue. That remaining 10 percent is still a large pool of money for smaller devs to compete for, but if a AAA studio finds itself in that group, it's bad news. Could the average gamer, who used to only play AAA games, be branching out into indie games? Could this flood of games be partially responsible for the volatility in the AAA space these days?

 

[Colif]

AAA companies have promotion budgets,.... and people who will spread the word about their games for free ...

its harder for small teams or individuals.

12000 games, would love to see a breakdown of genres.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I think from a consumers stand point the fact its so easy to get a game out there now is a huge benefit. Its harder to get a smaller game seen, but at the same time the people making those games are developing skills that will transfer to other games in the future meaning the, I guess 'skill pool' of people with game development abilities will grow even further. As long as they dont all then join medium to large companies and get laid off of course.

Its bad for AAA publishers business I think as its a lot more competition in the market at the time when theyre spending more than ever on dev. People seem to forget sometimes theres been huge AAA budget successes as well though, mostly from companies that arent basing there decisions solely around what corpos think will sell best.

Overall good for consumers, more competition, more people making games, a wider variety and better stand out games out there as they really have to be great or different to get noticed.

 

[BeardyHat]

I think from a consumers stand point the fact its so easy to get a game out there now is a huge benefit. Its harder to get a smaller game seen, but at the same time the people making those games are developing skills that will transfer to other games in the future meaning the, I guess 'skill pool' of people with game development abilities will grow even further. As long as they dont all then join medium to large companies and get laid off of course.

Its bad for AAA publishers business I think as its a lot more competition in the market at the time when theyre spending more than ever on dev. People seem to forget sometimes theres been huge AAA budget successes as well though, mostly from companies that arent basing there decisions solely around what corpos think will sell best.

Overall good for consumers, more competition, more people making games, a wider variety and better stand out games out there as they really have to be great or different to get noticed.

I don't feel like AAA is competing with Indies, quite honestly. Maybe for us types, who are into more niche stuff and the occasional AAA, but the majority of people spending their money on AAA games aren't thinking at all about indies or giving them a second look (or even a first glance, at that).

Otherwise, I welcome the glut of new, weird indie games. There's so much cool stuff out there to play, I think I'd never run out, even if games ceased releasing as of today. The only real worry is if we'll see a contraction of the market; with so many games out there and many people having limited money to spend, will the amount of releases end-up shrinking back down when it doesn't become a viable strategy to make a game as a career? Undeniably, we'll still have hobby projects, but just food for thought.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I don't feel like AAA is competing with Indies, quite honestly. Maybe for us types, who are into more niche stuff and the occasional AAA, but the majority of people spending their money on AAA games aren't thinking at all about indies or giving them a second look (or even a first glance, at that).

Youre right a lot of people buying AAA games wouldn't look at indies at all either. I was thinking more today vs 15-20 years ago when there werent really any indie games as such then people just played whatever was available as the choice was narrower. To be fair the market is way bigger then it was back then all around so maybe its not a huge factor for the UBIs and EA's etc.

The only real worry is if we'll see a contraction of the market; with so many games out there and many people having limited money to spend, will the amount of releases end-up shrinking back down when it doesn't become a viable strategy to make a game as a career? Undeniably, we'll still have hobby projects, but just food for thought.

I think it already happened post covid and thats why we are seeing all the layoff at medium and up developers. Looking on a bit of a brighter side, maybe theyll just be less attempted cash grab trash low budget games but the genuine ones will still get made.

 

[Brian Boru]

What is the impact of more than 12,000 games coming to Steam every year?

It's probably similar to the impact of the average internet search result where you get 10-100 million results. Those not on page 1 are only 10% impact, and page 3 maybe 1%.

The long tail impact comes from those who formulate more detailed searches so they would get the more niche results—if the search companies weren't pushing the big spenders to the front regardless of what the search phrasing is. Such searching will likely need to move off the casual consumer search tools and onto more specialized ones.

I assume that 12,000 is going to increase significantly in the near future once AI-produced games start appearing, where the most difficult dev job will be filling out the Steam forms. It's already happened with websites since last year, so it will hit all other digital media asap.

too many games for most of them to get noticed

Yes, gaming has recently begun to experience what other sister media have experienced since their production barriers dropped very significantly. The task of making a living has little to do with product quality and everything to do with product discoverability. So as Colif said, AAA can buy customers and are therefore unaffected by anything other than other AAAs ad some AAs.

Could this flood of games be partially responsible for the volatility in the AAA space these days?

Minimal if any impact. Much of the volatility is due to the aftershocks after any major world disruption—it was worse only 15 years ago after the Bush crash which bankrupted 4 countries, Covid effects have been much milder overall.

Some volatility is likely due to a probable maturing of the games market. I haven't looked in depth recently but I believe over 50% of people are gaming in the major markets. So phenomenal growth has slowed, which has put pressure on company structures designed for ongoing landgrabs during the crazy growth decades.

So just normal business shocks and cycles, and very little to do with the small market segments.

 

[ZedClampet]

It's probably similar to the impact of the average internet search result where you get 10-100 million results. Those not on page 1 are only 10% impact, and page 3 maybe 1%.

The long tail impact comes from those who formulate more detailed searches so they would get the more niche results—if the search companies weren't pushing the big spenders to the front regardless of what the search phrasing is. Such searching will likely need to move off the casual consumer search tools and onto more specialized ones.

I assume that 12,000 is going to increase significantly in the near future once AI-produced games start appearing, where the most difficult dev job will be filling out the Steam forms. It's already happened with websites since last year, so it will hit all other digital media asap.



Yes, gaming has recently begun to experience what other sister media have experienced since their production barriers dropped very significantly. The task of making a living has little to do with product quality and everything to do with product discoverability. So as Colif said, AAA can buy customers and are therefore unaffected by anything other than other AAAs ad some AAs.



Minimal if any impact. Much of the volatility is due to the aftershocks after any major world disruption—it was worse only 15 years ago after the Bush crash which bankrupted 4 countries, Covid effects have been much milder overall.

Some volatility is likely due to a probable maturing of the games market. I haven't looked in depth recently but I believe over 50% of people are gaming in the major markets. So phenomenal growth has slowed, which has put pressure on company structures designed for ongoing landgrabs during the crazy growth decades.

So just normal business shocks and cycles, and very little to do with the small market segments.

Not sure, but it almost has to have some impact. There are a lot of people playing indies and other games who might have been forced to play AAA not that long ago. And when you have so many choices, it makes cookie-cutter AAA seem lazy. The rise of indies could be causing an overall decline in satisfaction with AAA titles. Just a guess, though.