When Valve first announced that it was taking a long-overdue crowbar to Steam Greenlight and replacing it with a new system called Steam Direct, people weren’t sure what would happen. Some thought Steam was about to get more exclusive again. Others feared that Valve was only widening the floodgates. Now we’ve got numbers.
Since Steam Direct—which allows any developer to submit a game to Steam for $100—launched seven weeks ago, Steam has added over 1,000 new games, per figures provided by Ico Partners’ Thomas Bidaux (via GamesIndustry.biz). Of those, 215 arrived in the first week of August alone. Since mid-July, the number of games releasing per week has increased precipitously:
When Steam Direct launched, Valve predicted that, thanks to games still caught up in the arcane gears of the Greenlight system, there would be “an initial surge of new submissions and then a new rate somewhat higher than what was coming through Greenlight.” The upswing in releases, then, could be a heaping helping of Greenlight leftovers, or it might be a sign of things to come.
Regardless, Valve has contended that Steam’s algorithm and supporting systems are up to the task of helping people sift the cream from the crap. Time will tell whether or not it’s on the money with that gamble. For now, though, how are you surviving The Great Steam Game Flood Of 2017? Do you use built-in Steam features like the discovery queue and curators? Do you find that all these new games (some of which ain’t great) harm your ability to use the store, or are they just an irritating humming noise in the background?
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