What started in 2003 as a simple tool for updating Valve games has turned into a digital monster. Today, 300 times more titles are released than two decades ago, but this explosion comes at a price: visibility. From 70 releases in 2006 to thousands annually, the paradigm shift is complete. 🎮
From Greenlight to Steam Direct: the $100 barrier 💸
The turning point came in 2017 with Steam Direct, eliminating the community voting system. Now, for a fee of $100 and minimal technical requirements, anyone can publish. This democratized access, but also saturated the market. Where once every game was a manually curated event, today they compete for attention among thousands of annual releases. Quality is no longer the only filter; visibility has become the scarce resource.
Looking for a needle in a haystack of pixels 🔍
With so many releases, finding a gem is like searching for a pixel on an 8K screen. Before, a game's launch was a social event; now, it's a whisper in a packed stadium. The indie developer no longer just competes against big studios, but against 50 other games released that same Tuesday. At least, if your game is bad, it will have plenty of company.