More games have already released on Steam in 2014 than all of last year in total

[Justin Kahn]

Valve has opened the flood gates and has so far released more titles this year than all of 2013. Now reaching the end of May, a new Gamasutra statistical study of titles released on the popular platform over the past few years shows a massive influx of monthly releases this year compared to 2013 and 2012.

A large part of the increase in releases has to do with Early Access and the hundreds of titles being pushed through Steam Greenlight, a program that allows gamers to vote for titles they want to see appear on Steam and something the company has plans to shift away from. The company plans to move over to an entirely self published system, which some suggest will increase the amount of titles released.

Steam users who have noticed the massive influx of games may also be finding it increasingly difficult to sift through the more than 100 titles released in each of the past three months. While more games is always a good thing, discoverability becomes challenging. Indie game developers will also find it difficult to remain visible on the popular PC gaming hub now. With so many games being released, titles that once remained on the front page for a few days or more now barely get 24 hours in the spotlight.

While Valve is aware of some of the quality control issues such a large cache of titles can present (it removed The War Z and more recently Earth: Year 2066 for launching in a broken fashion among other things), it is also aware of the discoverability issues present. The company has now set the front page to default to "best selling" titles as opposed to "new releases," but it will be interesting to see what such an innovative and, for the most part, user friendly company will do to adapt to such a fast growing library.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/56806-more-games-have-already-released-on-steam-in-2014-than-all-of-last-year-in-total.html

 

[VitalyT]

Steam is exactly like Hollywood where General Quality = Talents * Ideas / Quantity.

 

[Guest]

Oh I have to agree. Especially after the towns fiasco. Yes a diamond in the rough may come along, yay... but I still have to look at all that rubbish that I don't want to. I have a friend who buys all these early access games, more money than sense.

Its like, Gabe had a chat with Adam Sandler about how to make more cashola.

"Well Gabe, I get all my friends the same old people together, change the female lead or eyecandy, put the best bits in a trailer, puff it out with good ol crap and nonsense, and milk from the sheep. Bit like the Call of Duty franchise."

 

[Jad Chaar]

Steam is after all a great service.

 

[GhostRyder]

Steam is a way for people to get started when making games. Its amazing to see what people can create with limited budget and time. Developers could take lessons from the small crowd and see how working on the basic level areas of just fun mechanics and interesting visuals with a strong story can make a very fun and intuitive game.

 

[saire]

It sure would be nice if Steam had more options for the Mac (and Linux, but when I was only using my Linux netbook, there were plenty of non-Steam options). I made the mistake of purchasing one of the newer weekly HumbleBundles (didn't realize these weren't the older way-cool Bundles that would pop up when you'd least expect it) & went through the hell of installing Steam and only ONE game was available for the Mac. I know I need to check back; it's possible that may have changed, but UGH.

 

[Guest]

I have never liked Steam or Origin for that matter. I absolutely hate the fact that it needs to be installed for me to install and play any game. I realise it is the perfect platform to force people to purchase games legitimately, which I can respect, but even knowing this I still don't like the platform. Another thing is discoverability of new games. I get that, steam makes it easy to manage games in one place, updates etc., find new games, but lets just be honest, there's nothing rocket science related in installing and updating games, so why the extra layer in the form of Steam? For me, releasing games direct to public without any intervening third party was the best part about games years ago. Saying that aloud makes me shiver because I hate it when people have that, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" attitude, but what this article simply says to me is that Valve is now going to try pump as much money from this initiative as possible, and they have every right to. I'm just saying that I wish I at least had the option of running my games without steam, but then Valve wouldn't make all that money, now would they?

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

I can well do without Steam littering my machine but unfortunately I need it to play certain games. I've never bought anything from them and will most likely will never. The same goes for all these kind of apps.

 

[bnjohanson]

I have never liked Steam or Origin for that matter. I absolutely hate the fact that it needs to be installed for me to install and play any game. I realise it is the perfect platform to force people to purchase games legitimately, which I can respect, but even knowing this I still don't like the platform. Another thing is discoverability of new games. I get that, steam makes it easy to manage games in one place, updates etc., find new games, but lets just be honest, there's nothing rocket science related in installing and updating games, so why the extra layer in the form of Steam? For me, releasing games direct to public without any intervening third party was the best part about games years ago. Saying that aloud makes me shiver because I hate it when people have that, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" attitude, but what this article simply says to me is that Valve is now going to try pump as much money from this initiative as possible, and they have every right to. I'm just saying that I wish I at least had the option of running my games without steam, but then Valve wouldn't make all that money, now would they?

...so what are you trying to say? ...and, were those rhetorical questions?

 

[Guest]

...so what are you trying to say? ...and, were those rhetorical questions?

Basically I want to play my games without having to have Steam if I so choose, but every damn game that's released these days must have it, or Origin, or some other damn platform before it will install. I very well understand that they wanted to make a harmonious easy way of managing games, that's probably how it started, but these days its more about the money than anything. Everything is moving to the damn cloud, and from where I am, I simply don't have the horse power (that's read bandwidth) to accommodate these huge files moving from the cloud and back again. I have never bought a game from steam, although I did by a small DLC pack for Borderlands, but thinking back on it now I think it was such a waste of money. I am not a fan of how games are moving to this in game purchasing model. Its all only largely possible because of Steam, and besides I still prefer boxed games, and even if I had the bandwidth, I think I would still prefer them.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I still prefer boxed games, and even if I had the bandwidth, I think I would still prefer them.

I've come to prefer Steam, because it is a platform for PC. What I will never spend my money on are consoles and their expensive titles. That automatically cuts me out of console exclusives. I probably wouldn't like those titles even if I played them anyway. What I don't get is you saying you understand why, but then contradict yourself with arguments. If you understood why, then you would except Steam (or Origin for that matter) as a platform.

Side Note:
I know nothing of Origin, I've selected Steam to be my platform of choice. Which also means that game title exclusives for Origin, will never find their way to my sales page much less library.

 

[QuaZulu]

Quantity does not equal quality...but I guess that's often in the eye of the beholder.

That being said, Steam has been great for me. I live and work in a foreign country but my billing address is in the US. Steam techs have set up a system where I can buy, download, and play games where I am at paying via my US account. I really appreciate that (Origin, on the other hand...)

 

[Guest]

I know nothing of Origin, I've selected Steam to be my platform of choice. Which also means that game title exclusives for Origin, will never find their way to my sales page much less library.

..and in that side note, you have made my point. I like a few games that are on Origin, but for the rest there is Steam, but I must have both installed to play both types of games. I also believe UbiSoft has their own one too. If you refuse to play console games for the reason they are on another platform, then that argument about staying away from Origin falls in the same category. It was inevitable that with the success of Steam, there would be competition, which is good, but its more about locking you into one or another platform than it is about the games anymore. All those free games on Steam, well they aren't doing it for you, they are doing it to try sweeten the deal to keep you on Steam, same with Origin and the rest. The same is true with consoles, you have simply chosen one platform. There are games on consoles that appeal to me and I eventually bought the PS3 and a few games (although the prices, as you say, are astronomical). Even now I'm considering an Xbox One, but the saving grace to this is that at least there is a possibility that with Microsoft's new strategy I may be able to buy a game on the pc and play it on the Xbox One all nicely comfortable on my couch if I so chose, and then switch over to the PC if I want to. That would appeal to me, but that is because it is multiplatform and not isolated like Steam is, but I'm still watching to see if Microsoft actually does that.
You go on to say that it is a platform for the PC, but so is Origin. I'm just saying that I know they are a company, just as much as Microsoft is a company that needs to release new Operating Systems to generate an income. Having said that, Steam was only ever popular for one reason, and that was to curb piracy initially. Its become so popular now, that its forced on you whether you want it installed or not. I simply find the whole thing annoying. The games are perfectly capable of running without it, but it is a forced requirement. I can easily go browse an online catalogue of games and purchase one that way, so then why do I need a specialised application to do this? Its just like one of those annoying Apps that comes preinstalled on Windows 8 which you may have one use for, but the rest of it is really not worth your time.
You also go on to say that I contradict myself by saying I understand all this. Perhaps I may understand it, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. Unlike Microsoft and its OS which an important component on any system that actually runs all my games, I don't mind paying for it to get the latest features (every now and then, not all the time), I.e. DX12, Steam is like that unwanted child you never had.

 

[Guest]

That being said, Steam has been great for me. I live and work in a foreign country but my billing address is in the US. Steam techs have set up a system where I can buy, download, and play games where I am at paying via my US account. I really appreciate that (Origin, on the other hand...)

I can appreciate that. However, I simply said I prefer boxed games, and never said they should do away with downloadable games. What's wrong with an all online platform of game catalogues? Why must it be a physical application? Ultimately we are just arguing semantics here by me stating the reasons I don't like Steam and its competitors. ITs not going to change as they make way too much money out of all of this. The only thing that ends up suffering is the games quality. This in game purchasing model, or pay to win, is going to eventual make its way from all these indie developers Valve is letting onto steam, to the AAA games. We are already seeing signs of this where they release all the nice little add-on's that you have no way of getting unless you pay for it. Proudly brought to you by what Steam has become, a money spinner. If I had a choice in the matter, I would have none of it, but I am outnumbered with regards to this.

 

[Ranger12]

For me, releasing games direct to public without any intervening third party was the best part about games years ago.

Except, games were never released directly to the public. You always had to go to a store a pick up a copy of the game, the store being the middle man, just like steam. Except it costs money to drive there, they don't automatically update your games for you and they don't provide cloud storage for saves. Also, it costs less to publish so we see lower prices on many games (except AAA titles)

 

[BlueDrake]

Steam basically opened the flood gates, and let anyone and their sister dump games on the service. Games get listed 2013-2014 release, when they are obviously likely 90's-2000 era games. So really it's like digging through a landfill, to find what you want except.. the pile gets bigger daily without any warning. Unless there's intervention on this, people will just be throwing their hands up.

I mostly love the service being really, everything is centralized and I can pick up games on sales. Friends are there to chat with, you can join games and more without a worry. There's so much really to the service, that really made it enjoyable. Now that basically all these games, basically get dumped on Steam I mostly avoid the store page.

Unless something is worthwhile from what I hear from reviewers, friends or such and get actual footage of gameplay? I mostly just pass on the game, unless I was actually waiting for the title. There's too many crap games, from early on that nobody cares about. Which is why they shifted the default to top sellers, they don't want to show there's little quality control now. Anything "really big" is all you see by default, which is usually Day Z and the like. I really wish in the end, they would put up other filters to help us sift through games.