Release trends

how the market grows · release pace, users per release, tag eras, studio survival

niches · where it got crowded and where the interest is

130 genres and subgenres · snapshot of 2026-10-30

interest above usualbelow usualno different from usualdot size = new games in a year:1001,00010,000

interest above usual, no rush of new games

Niche	Interest	vs Steam
Open World Survival Craft	×2.70	×0.94
Medical Sim	×1.93	×1.01
Automobile Sim	×1.71	×0.86
4X	×1.69	×1.05
Farming	×1.68	×1.17
JRPG	×1.67	×0.70
Souls-like	×1.65	×0.63
Sandbox	×1.64	×1.14

and 24 more

more new games and more interest

Niche	Interest	vs Steam
Extraction Shooter	×3.15	×1.29
Job Simulator	×1.91	×2.10
Trains	×1.86	×1.25
Cozy	×1.51	×2.23
Base Building	×1.49	×1.18
Colony Sim	×1.42	×1.32
Management	×1.30	×1.32
Simulation	×1.25	×1.21

a rush of new games, interest no higher than usual

Niche	Interest	vs Steam
Party Game	×0.83	×3.05
Bullet Heaven	×1.07	×2.90
Automation	×1.11	×1.77
Auto Battler	×0.93	×1.76
Resource Management	×1.14	×1.70
Idler	×0.81	×1.69
Incremental	×0.76	×1.60
Gambling	×0.83	×1.56

and 18 more

fewer new games, interest below usual

Niche	Interest	vs Steam
Platformer	×0.74	×0.66
3D Fighter	×0.56	×0.66
Mystery Dungeon	×0.66	×0.66
3D Platformer	×0.79	×0.67
Runner	×0.41	×0.68
Puzzle Platformer	×0.60	×0.69
Battle Royale	×0.67	×0.70
Precision Platformer	×0.48	×0.70

and 6 more

all 130 niches as a table

niches · where it got crowded and where the interest is
Niche	New games	vs Steam	Interest
Casual	23,065	×1.08	×0.70
Action	17,096	×0.96	×0.93
Adventure	16,127	×0.86	×1.05
Simulation	14,464	×1.21	×1.25
Strategy	13,498	×1.31	×0.81
RPG	9,187	×0.98	×1.13
Puzzle	7,944	×0.87	×0.80
Arcade	6,677	×1.05	×0.54
Resource Management	5,850	×1.70	×1.14
Roguelite	5,833	×1.27	×0.82
Horror	5,664	×0.80	×1.21
Roguelike	5,441	×1.11	×0.70
Action-Adventure	5,432	×0.72	×1.06
Management	5,251	×1.32	×1.30
Incremental	4,539	×1.60	×0.76
Psychological Horror	4,199	×0.81	×1.15
Visual Novel	4,030	×0.82	×1.07
Idler	3,919	×1.69	×0.81
Shooter	3,826	×0.80	×0.91
Cozy	3,746	×2.23	×1.51
Survival	3,601	×0.99	×1.20
Sandbox	3,596	×1.14	×1.64
2D Platformer	3,586	×0.81	×0.63
Action Roguelike	3,540	×1.06	×0.68
Point & Click	3,181	×0.87	×1.05
Immersive Sim	3,132	×0.81	×1.44
Platformer	2,925	×0.66	×0.74
Turn-Based Strategy	2,901	×1.18	×0.83
Crafting	2,894	×1.00	×1.42
Turn-Based Tactics	2,780	×1.11	×0.78
Building	2,777	×1.00	×1.45
Interactive Fiction	2,752	×0.87	×0.96
Open World	2,681	×0.82	×1.55
Card Game	2,663	×1.17	×0.60
Life Sim	2,610	×1.03	×1.34
Deckbuilding	2,431	×1.19	×0.69
Action RPG	2,421	×0.82	×1.19
Space	2,384	×1.04	×0.78
Party Game	2,266	×3.05	×0.83
Base Building	2,216	×1.18	×1.49
Automation	2,205	×1.77	×1.11
Time Management	2,203	×1.18	×0.98
3D Platformer	2,153	×0.67	×0.79
FPS	2,152	×0.74	×1.08
Bullet Hell	2,151	×0.93	×0.48
Hidden Object	2,129	×0.76	×0.66
Survival Horror	2,077	×0.77	×1.19
Dungeon Crawler	2,058	×1.00	×0.94
Walking Simulator	2,044	×0.74	×0.92
Collectathon	1,964	×1.04	×1.03
Dating Sim	1,703	×0.78	×1.32
Card Battler	1,684	×1.15	×0.62
Hack and Slash	1,671	×0.85	×1.22
Sports	1,661	×1.14	×0.92
Tower Defense	1,649	×1.25	×0.76
Puzzle Platformer	1,516	×0.69	×0.60
Auto Battler	1,512	×1.76	×0.93
Tabletop	1,499	×1.20	×0.53
Top-Down Shooter	1,483	×0.99	×0.49
Stealth	1,449	×0.86	×1.23
Strategy RPG	1,423	×1.04	×1.06
Detective	1,314	×0.89	×1.16
Board Game	1,303	×1.17	×0.51
Real Time Tactics	1,290	×1.05	×0.86
Racing	1,228	×0.87	×0.86
Creature Collector	1,122	×0.82	×1.23
Job Simulator	1,069	×2.10	×1.91
Bullet Heaven	1,031	×2.90	×1.07
Arena Shooter	1,016	×1.01	×0.46
RTS	1,011	×1.03	×1.17
Shoot 'Em Up	1,008	×0.72	×0.43
Precision Platformer	1,006	×0.70	×0.48
JRPG	1,005	×0.70	×1.67
Tactical RPG	959	×0.94	×1.07
City Builder	957	×0.96	×1.49
Trading	941	×1.30	×1.18
Party-Based RPG	940	×0.98	×1.35
Cooking	933	×0.96	×1.27
Driving	931	×0.92	×1.54
Roguelike Deckbuilder	922	×1.38	×0.93
Third-Person Shooter	896	×0.72	×1.15
Farming Sim	867	×0.91	×1.36
Wargame	832	×0.90	×1.29
Word Game	797	×1.01	×0.82
Mining	778	×1.50	×1.09
Gambling	723	×1.56	×0.83
Colony Sim	710	×1.32	×1.42
Runner	634	×0.68	×0.41
2D Fighter	630	×0.86	×0.65
CRPG	610	×0.79	×1.27
Rhythm	600	×1.00	×0.88
Souls-like	597	×0.63	×1.65
Fishing	570	×1.02	×1.47
Flight	565	×0.91	×1.14
Space Sim	539	×1.06	×0.96
Metroidvania	538	×0.67	×1.35
Typing	504	×1.15	×0.68
Beat 'em up	501	×0.64	×0.98
Grand Strategy	480	×1.15	×1.60
Twin Stick Shooter	470	×0.92	×0.66
Automobile Sim	469	×0.86	×1.71
Political Sim	442	×1.54	×1.26
3D Fighter	431	×0.66	×0.56
Match 3	385	×1.10	×0.48
Looter Shooter	378	×0.81	×1.02
Trading Card Game	375	×0.91	×0.33
Boomer Shooter	370	×0.67	×1.40
Mystery Dungeon	361	×0.66	×0.66
MMORPG	358	×1.19	×1.22
Traditional Roguelike	358	×1.20	×0.58
God Game	344	×1.02	×1.06
Solitaire	332	×0.89	×0.52
Spectacle fighter	279	×0.72	×1.48
Sokoban	245	×0.73	×0.28
Trains	238	×1.25	×1.86
Escape Room	236	×0.84	×1.04
4X	228	×1.05	×1.69
Battle Royale	222	×0.70	×0.67
Trivia	204	×1.14	×0.40
Hero Shooter	193	×0.64	×0.80
Social Deduction	186	×1.47	×0.53
Farming	181	×1.17	×1.68
Otome	173	×0.68	×1.50
Fighting	166	×0.76	×1.25
Open World Survival Craft	159	×0.94	×2.70
Outbreak Sim	145	×1.12	×1.19
Extraction Shooter	135	×1.29	×3.15
Medical Sim	128	×1.01	×1.93
MOBA	121	×0.83	×0.97
On-Rails Shooter	100	×0.73	×0.39

Crowding = store pages with the tag created in the last 12 months vs the 12 before, divided by the growth of the whole catalogue: ×1 is in step with Steam. Interest = share of the niche’s announced games that reached the wishlist chart, 2,000 followers or 50 concurrent demo players, against the same share among announcements of the same age across Steam. A hollow dot is within noise. This is a snapshot, not a forecast: it shows where interest is today, not whether it is growing. Both axes are logarithmic.

year pace · cumulative releases since Jan 1

2026 to date: 26.3k vs 2025 same date: 17.1k · +54% pace

curve shape carries the seasonality · dashed = current pace projected over last year’s seasonal shape · dates from Steam store pages

market growth · releases yoy · last 12 years

current year compared YTD-to-YTD

+63%

20152.6k

+61%

20164.2k

+42%

20176.0k

+26%

20187.5k

-2%

20197.3k

+21%

20208.9k

+18%

releases per year · in numbers

Steam releases per year, with year-on-year change.
Year	Releases	vs a year earlier
2015	2,594	+63 %
2016	4,187	+61 %
2017	5,950	+42 %
2018	7,503	+26 %
2019	7,334	-2 %
2020	8,896	+21 %
2021	10,494	+18 %
2022	11,394

releases by weekday · history

15%

Mon

16%

Tue

16%

Wed

22%

Thu

22%

Fri

Sat

Sun

all observed years

seasonality · releases by month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

11%

Oct

Nov

Dec

all observed years · October crush, summer dip

steam users per release · yearly peak online users ÷ dated releases

both sides grow, supply grows faster: 18k users per release in 2011 → 1.6k in 2026

4.4k

06318k/72

5.3k

07565k/107

8.6k

081.5M/177

7.0k

092.4M/340

11k

103.3M/294

18k

114.8M/269

17k

126.2M/357

16k

137.7M/491

5.9k

149.4M/1.6k

5.2k

1513.5M/2.6k

3.3k

1613.7M/4.2k

3.0k

1718.0M/6.0k

2.5k

1818.5M/7.5k

2.4k

1917.6M/7.3k

2.8k

2024.8M/8.9k

2.6k

2127.4M/10k

2.8k

2231.9M/11k

2.5k

2333.6M/13k

2.2k

2439.3M/18k

2.0k

2541.7M/21k

1.6k

2642.7M/26k

Users = clients logged into Steam (not in-game), yearly peak, source: SteamDB app 753 · divided by day-precision releases · hover a bar for the raw fraction · darkest = best supply/demand year, outlined = now

tag eras · share of the year’s releases carrying a tag

every tag with 100+ games (408 lines) · hover to trace, click to pin

labels sit at each tag’s peak year · share = releases with the tag ÷ all dated releases of that year

Studios

what happens to the people who ship · survival, experience and the publisher effect · dated releases only, studio names as listed on the store

92,907studios have shipped at least one dated game

77%never shipped a second one

203 dmedian gap between a studio’s releases

65%of this year’s releases are debuts

games per studio · how many ever ship again

77% · 71,520

12.7% · 11,814

4.5% · 4,209

4–5

3.1% · 2,913

6–10

1.7% · 1,579

11+

0.9% · 872

only 23% of studios ever ship a second game

experience pays · median reviews by the studio’s game number

1st55.8% with 10+ reviews

2nd64.2% with 10+ reviews

3rd68.8% with 10+ reviews

4th70.4% with 10+ reviews

5th71.9% with 10+ reviews

6th+63.9% with 10+ reviews

median reviews grow up to a studio’s 5th game; the 6th+ bucket is dominated by high-volume factories

the publisher effect · releases of the last 3 years

with a publisher14,064 releases

median reviews

10+ reviews

64.9%

self-published53,596 releases

median reviews

10+ reviews

43.4%

the median self-published release gets zero reviews, partly selection: publishers pick projects that already look alive

debut share · % of the year’s releases from first-time studios

64%

Data as of 2026-10-31. Every number comes from Steam’s own public surfaces or is computed from them; definitions are in Metrics.

Niche

Interest

vs Steam

Open World Survival Craft

×2.70

×0.94

Medical Sim

×1.93

×1.01

Automobile Sim

×1.71

×0.86

×1.69

×1.05

Farming

×1.68

×1.17

JRPG

×1.67

×0.70

Souls-like

×1.65

×0.63

Sandbox

×1.64

×1.14

Niche

Interest

vs Steam

Extraction Shooter

×3.15

×1.29

Job Simulator

×1.91

×2.10

Trains

×1.86

×1.25

Cozy

×1.51

×2.23

Base Building

×1.49

×1.18

Colony Sim

×1.42

×1.32

Management

×1.30

×1.32

Simulation

×1.25

×1.21

Niche

Interest

vs Steam

Party Game

×0.83

×3.05

Bullet Heaven

×1.07

×2.90

Automation

×1.11

×1.77

Auto Battler

×0.93

×1.76

Resource Management

×1.14

×1.70

Idler

×0.81

×1.69

Incremental

×0.76

×1.60

Gambling

×0.83

×1.56

Niche

Interest

vs Steam

Platformer

×0.74

×0.66

3D Fighter

×0.56

×0.66

Mystery Dungeon

×0.66

3D Platformer

×0.79

×0.67

Runner

×0.41

×0.68

Puzzle Platformer

×0.60

×0.69

Battle Royale

×0.67

×0.70

Precision Platformer

×0.48

×0.70

Niche

New games

vs Steam

Interest

Casual

23,065

×1.08

×0.70

Action

17,096

×0.96

×0.93

Adventure

16,127

×0.86

×1.05

Simulation

14,464

×1.21

×1.25

Strategy

13,498

×1.31

×0.81

RPG

9,187

×0.98

×1.13

Puzzle

7,944

×0.87

×0.80

Arcade

6,677

×1.05

×0.54

Resource Management

5,850

×1.70

×1.14

Roguelite

5,833

×1.27

×0.82

Horror

5,664

×0.80

×1.21

Roguelike

5,441

×1.11

×0.70

Action-Adventure

5,432

×0.72

×1.06

Management

5,251

×1.32

×1.30

Incremental

4,539

×1.60

×0.76

Psychological Horror

4,199

×0.81

×1.15

Visual Novel

4,030

×0.82

×1.07

Idler

3,919

×1.69

×0.81

Shooter

3,826

×0.80

×0.91

Cozy

3,746

×2.23

×1.51

Survival

3,601

×0.99

×1.20

Sandbox

3,596

×1.14

×1.64

2D Platformer

3,586

×0.81

×0.63

Action Roguelike

3,540

×1.06

×0.68

Point & Click

3,181

×0.87

×1.05

Immersive Sim

3,132

×0.81

×1.44

Platformer

2,925

×0.66

×0.74

Turn-Based Strategy

2,901

×1.18

×0.83

Crafting

2,894

×1.00

×1.42

Turn-Based Tactics

2,780

×1.11

×0.78

Building

2,777

×1.00

×1.45

Interactive Fiction

2,752

×0.87

×0.96

Open World

2,681

×0.82

×1.55

Card Game

2,663

×1.17

×0.60

Life Sim

2,610

×1.03

×1.34

Deckbuilding

2,431

×1.19

×0.69

Action RPG

2,421

×0.82

×1.19

Space

2,384

×1.04

×0.78

Party Game

2,266

×3.05

×0.83

Base Building

2,216

×1.18

×1.49

Automation

2,205

×1.77

×1.11

Time Management

2,203

×1.18

×0.98

3D Platformer

2,153

×0.67

×0.79

FPS

2,152

×0.74

×1.08

Bullet Hell

2,151

×0.93

×0.48

Hidden Object

2,129

×0.76

×0.66

Survival Horror

2,077

×0.77

×1.19

Dungeon Crawler

2,058

×1.00

×0.94

Walking Simulator

2,044

×0.74

×0.92

Collectathon

1,964

×1.04

×1.03

Dating Sim

1,703

×0.78

×1.32

Card Battler

1,684

×1.15

×0.62

Hack and Slash

1,671

×0.85

×1.22

Sports

1,661

×1.14

×0.92

Tower Defense

1,649

×1.25

×0.76

Puzzle Platformer

1,516

×0.69

×0.60

Auto Battler

1,512

×1.76

×0.93

Tabletop

1,499

×1.20

×0.53

Top-Down Shooter

1,483

×0.99

×0.49

Stealth

1,449

×0.86

×1.23

Strategy RPG

1,423

×1.04

×1.06

Detective

1,314

×0.89

×1.16

Board Game

1,303

×1.17

×0.51

Real Time Tactics

1,290

×1.05

×0.86

Racing

1,228

×0.87

×0.86

Creature Collector

1,122

×0.82

×1.23

Job Simulator

1,069

×2.10

×1.91

Bullet Heaven

1,031

×2.90

×1.07

Arena Shooter

1,016

×1.01

×0.46

RTS

1,011

×1.03

×1.17

Shoot 'Em Up

1,008

×0.72

×0.43

Precision Platformer

1,006

×0.70

×0.48

JRPG

1,005

×0.70

×1.67

Tactical RPG

959

×0.94

×1.07

City Builder

957

×0.96

×1.49

Trading

941

×1.30

×1.18

Party-Based RPG

940

×0.98

×1.35

Cooking

933

×0.96

×1.27

Driving

931

×0.92

×1.54

Roguelike Deckbuilder

922

×1.38

×0.93

Third-Person Shooter

896

×0.72

×1.15

Farming Sim

867

×0.91

×1.36

Wargame

832

×0.90

×1.29

Word Game

797

×1.01

×0.82

Mining

778

×1.50

×1.09

Gambling

723

×1.56

×0.83

Colony Sim

710

×1.32

×1.42

Runner

634

×0.68

×0.41

2D Fighter

630

×0.86

×0.65

CRPG

610

×0.79

×1.27

Rhythm

600

×1.00

×0.88

Souls-like

597

×0.63

×1.65

Fishing

570

×1.02

×1.47

Flight

565

×0.91

×1.14

Space Sim

539

×1.06

×0.96

Metroidvania

538

×0.67

×1.35

Typing

504

×1.15

×0.68

Beat 'em up

501

×0.64

×0.98

Grand Strategy

480

×1.15

×1.60

Twin Stick Shooter

470

×0.92

×0.66

Automobile Sim

469

×0.86

×1.71

Political Sim

442

×1.54

×1.26

3D Fighter

431

×0.66

×0.56

Match 3

385

×1.10

×0.48

Looter Shooter

378

×0.81

×1.02

Trading Card Game

375

×0.91

×0.33

Boomer Shooter

370

×0.67

×1.40

Mystery Dungeon

361

×0.66

MMORPG

358

×1.19

×1.22

Traditional Roguelike

358

×1.20

×0.58

God Game

344

×1.02

×1.06

Solitaire

332

×0.89

×0.52

Spectacle fighter

279

×0.72

×1.48

Sokoban

245

×0.73

×0.28

Trains

238

×1.25

×1.86

Escape Room

236

×0.84

×1.04

228

×1.05

×1.69

Battle Royale

222

×0.70

×0.67

Trivia

204

×1.14

×0.40

Hero Shooter

193

×0.64

×0.80

Social Deduction

186

×1.47

×0.53

Farming

181

×1.17

×1.68

Otome

173

×0.68

×1.50

Fighting

166

×0.76

×1.25

Open World Survival Craft

159

×0.94

×2.70

Outbreak Sim

145

×1.12

×1.19

Extraction Shooter

135

×1.29

×3.15

Medical Sim

128

×1.01

×1.93

MOBA

121

×0.83

×0.97

On-Rails Shooter

100

×0.73

×0.39