# Too many games already? Is it worth making one more?

> There are a lot of games: Steam got about 20,000 new games in 2025, and almost half ended up with fewer than 10 reviews. Even so, the share that reached 1,000 reviews was the highest since 2022, about 3%. If you are starting out, making one more is worth it as a learning project, without counting on money: the glut hurts sales, not what you learn.

Summary for when you're short on time

- Steam got about 20,000 new games in 2025: from 20,008 to 20,558, depending on the tracker.
- In 2022 there were 12,304 releases, according to VG Insights; in three years, the number rose about 65% (our math).
- In mid-December 2025, almost half the games released that year had fewer than 10 reviews on Steam, and about 2,200 had none, according to SteamDB.
- Only 608 of the 20,282 games from 2025 reached 1,000 reviews, about 3%; it was the biggest share since 2022, which had 2.74%.
- In 2025, 5,863 games grossed more than $100,000 on Steam, according to Valve, almost double 2020.
- On itch.io, an open store for independent games, publishing costs nothing, and the game can be free.

Your first step: Before you think about selling, decide what your first game needs to prove: that you can finish a small game and put it where other people can play it.

By Daniel Novi. Published October 14, 2026. Updated October 14, 2026. Address: https://www.gamearchitectsai.com/en/market/too-many-games-is-it-worth-making-one

## How many games come out on Steam each year?

About 20,000, in 2025. Steam, the biggest store for PC games, had never received so many. The exact number depends on who is counting: the trackers that follow the store give from 20,008 to 20,558 games released that year[1]. That works out to an average of more than 50 new games a day (our math).

The growth was fast. By the count of VG Insights, a company that tracks Steam, there were 12,304 releases in 2022 and 20,282 in 2025[2]. In three years, about 65% more (our math).

| Year | Games released on Steam | Reached 1,000 reviews | Share | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12,304 | 337 | 2.74% | Zukowski, VG Insights data[2] |
| 2023 | 13,834 | 354 | 2.56% | Zukowski, VG Insights data[2] |
| 2024 | 18,239 | 445 | 2.44% | Zukowski, VG Insights data[2] |
| 2025 | 20,282 | 608 | 2.99% | Zukowski, VG Insights data[2] |

The 1,000-review column is the yardstick Chris Zukowski, author of the site How To Market A Game, uses to say a game "took off". According to him, that mark usually corresponds to more than $150,000 in revenue[2]. We will come back to it shortly.

## How many of those games does almost nobody play?

Almost half. In mid-December 2025, SteamDB, a site that tracks Steam's public data, counted about 19,200 games released that year up to that point. About 2,200 had no reviews at all, and another 7,100 had nine at most[3]. Together, that is about 9,300 games, close to 48% (our math). In 2024, the share with fewer than 10 reviews had been 43.56%[3].

A review is not a sale. Only some buyers leave a review, and the December snapshot includes games released just days earlier. Even so, fewer than 10 reviews means, in practice, a game few people found.

Money follows the same pattern. Among paid games released in 2019, half grossed less than $1,136 by the end of 2022, by a VG Insights estimate analyzed by Zukowski[6]. The full numbers are in [how much a game makes on Steam](/en/market/how-much-do-steam-games-make).

## So is the market saturated?

The store is crowded, and there is no arguing with that: dozens of new games a day. What the numbers show is that the glut has a shape. Most of the volume is games almost nobody played, and the share that succeeded did not shrink.


Look at the table again. The number of games released grew about 65% from 2022 to 2025, and the number of games that reached 1,000 reviews grew more: from 337 to 608[2]. The share went from 2.74% to 2.99%, the highest of the four years[2]. Zukowski himself warns that 3% is still very hard to reach[2].

Valve, the company that owns Steam, showed a similar pattern at GDC, an annual conference for people who make games, in March 2026. In 2025, **5,863 games grossed more than $100,000 on Steam**, compared with about 3,000 in 2020[4]. The count appears to include games from earlier years that kept selling[5], so it does not measure only that year's releases. And the audience grew too: Steam reached 42 million people online at the same time in early 2026[5].

Our take: your game is not competing for attention with the year's 20,000. It is competing with the few hundred games like it that were well made and well promoted. That competition is smaller in number, and tougher.

## If you are starting out, is it worth making one more?

Yes, if the goal of your first game is to learn and finish it, not to pay the bills (our take). The glut of games matters when it is time to sell. It does not affect what you learn by making a game from start to finish, testing it with real people and putting it on a store.

Three facts help that math add up:

- **Publishing can cost nothing.** On itch.io, an open store for independent games, listing a game is free, and it can go out free or pay-what-you-want, where each person pays whatever they like, including nothing[8]. Steam charges $100 per game, which only comes back after $1,000 in revenue[9].
- **Games keep selling after launch.** On Steam, independent games released before 2024 took 43% of indie revenue in 2024, according to VG Insights[7].
- **Almost everything released on the store is independent.** Through September 2024, 99% of the games released on Steam came from independent studios, according to the same report[7]. Big studios are a tiny part of the releases.

Starting small was also the path of several games that later became famous; the stories, with sources, are in [famous games that started small](/en/stories/famous-games-that-started-small). They are survivor stories, not the rule.

## With AI, won't it get even worse?

It might, and there is no reliable number to measure that yet. Our take is that when making a game gets more accessible, more people make them, and the pile on the store grows.

What AI does not change is the part that was already hard before it: settling on a game someone wants to play, testing, fixing and getting that game found. In a market with 20,000 releases a year, those parts end up weighing more than writing the code (our take). On what is still hard work, see [is making a game with AI easy?](/en/start-here/is-making-a-game-with-ai-easy).

## How do you make a game that does not get lost among so many?

There is no formula. There are decisions that lower the risk of making a game nobody sees (our take):

- **Pick a small game.** A small, finished game teaches more than a big one left half done. There are ideas of the right size in [what your first game should be](/en/start-here/what-should-your-first-game-be).
- **Show it early.** An outsider playing the first version tells you more than months of tweaking alone.
- **Look at similar games before you start.** How many reviews they have on Steam shows the size of the audience for that type of game.
- **Decide what "it worked" means.** For a first game, finishing it and watching ten strangers play is already a result most of the 20,000 never had.

**The other side.** The numbers on this page do not say it is easy to stand out. About 97% of the games released in 2025 did not reach 1,000 reviews (our math), and half of the paid games from 2019 grossed less than $1,136 in their whole lifetime, by estimate. The success share went up in 2025, but one good year does not guarantee the next. If the plan is to make a living from games, the number of releases is a real reason for concern, and nobody can promise you will get rich. Making one more game is worth it for what you learn and for the finished game; the money, if it comes, is the least likely part.

## Your action plan

- [ ] Write, in one sentence, what your first game needs to prove, without mentioning money.
- [ ] Pick a small idea that fits on one screen and in a round of a few minutes.
- [ ] Find three games on Steam similar to your idea and note how many reviews each one has.
- [ ] Create a free itch.io account so you have somewhere to publish the first version.
- [ ] Arrange with three people from outside your household to play the first version and tell you what they think.
- [ ] Read how much a game makes on Steam before you think about charging for your game.

## Related questions

### How many games are released on Steam each year?

About 20,000 in 2025. The trackers give from 20,008 to 20,558, depending on the method. In 2022 there were 12,304, according to VG Insights.

### Is the games market saturated?

The store is crowded: dozens of new games a day on Steam. But a large part of that volume is games almost nobody played, and the share of games reaching 1,000 reviews did not fall in 2025: it rose to about 3%.

### How many Steam games does nobody play?

In mid-December 2025, about 2,200 games released that year had no reviews at all, and almost half had fewer than 10, according to SteamDB. Reviews are a rough measure of reach, not of sales.

### Is it still worth making an indie game?

It is worth it as a learning experience and as a project, if you do not depend on it to pay the bills. As a business, the chance of a game making money is small: only about 3% of 2025 games reached 1,000 reviews. Nobody can promise you will get rich.

### Where can I publish my first game without paying?

On itch.io, an open store for independent games: publishing costs nothing and the game can be free or pay-what-you-want. Steam charges $100 per game, which only comes back after $1,000 in revenue.

### With AI, will even more games come out?

Probably, because making games has become more accessible, but there is no reliable number on that yet (our take). What AI does not change is the work of getting the game noticed, which is still up to whoever makes it.

## Sources

1. Chris Zukowski, How To Market A Game, "How many games were released in 2025?" (January 8, 2026): https://howtomarketagame.com/2026/01/08/how-many-games-were-released-in-2025/ (accessed October 14, 2026)
2. Chris Zukowski, How To Market A Game, "What the hell happened in 2025?" (January 27, 2026): https://howtomarketagame.com/?p=5658 (accessed October 14, 2026)
3. WN Hub, half of 2025 Steam releases with fewer than 10 reviews, SteamDB data (December 15, 2025): https://wnhub.io/news/analytics/item-49561 (accessed October 14, 2026)
4. Game World Observer, "In 2025, nearly 6,000 games earned over $100,000 on Steam" (March 11, 2026): https://gameworldobserver.com/2026/03/11/in-2025-nearly-6000-games-earned-over-100000-on-steam-a-record (accessed October 14, 2026)
5. PCGamesN, Valve's talk at GDC 2026 (March 11, 2026): https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam/2025-report-valve-gdc (accessed October 14, 2026)
6. Chris Zukowski, How To Market A Game, "The median indie game does not earn a whole lot" (November 28, 2022): https://howtomarketagame.com/2022/11/28/the-median-indie-game-does-not-earn-a-whole-lot/ (accessed October 14, 2026)
7. VG Insights, Global Indie Games Market Report 2024 (data through September 30, 2024): https://vginsights.com/assets/reports/VGI_Global_Indie_Games_Market_Report_2024.pdf (accessed October 14, 2026)
8. itch.io, creator FAQ: https://itch.io/docs/creators/faq (accessed October 14, 2026)
9. Valve, Steamworks, Steam Direct: https://partner.steamgames.com/steamdirect (accessed October 14, 2026)