Steam continues to set all-time records for release numbers: as of October 1, Valve’s service has released 20,220 games, and taking into account projects planned for October 2026, it will officially surpass last year’s numbers by early November.
Despite mass layoffs and the crisis at major studios, overall distribution is still growing rapidly due to the popularity of independent projects and the active implementation of generative artificial intelligence (already used by about 31% of developers).
Against the backdrop of this conveyor belt of madness, gamers are increasingly faced with a massive oversaturation of the market and endless “backlogs” that are virtually impossible to complete.
The exception is November, when publishers will make wholesale changes to releases to avoid competing with the inevitable release of Grand Theft Auto 6, but the general trend of doubling the number of new releases each year remains unchanged.
