When Valve launched Steam Direct in June 2017 it marked a huge shift in the storefront’s identity. Before Direct, Valve manually decided what did and did not release on Steam, or else it used initiatives like Steam Greenlight to have users decide what games would or would not enjoy placement.
Before June 2017, the amount of games that shipped on Steam per month had only once exceeded 500 (518, in December 2016). Since February 2025, the amount of games shipping on Steam per month has never dropped beneath 1500.
Forgive me the onslaught of numbers, but just one more: The total amount of games shipped on Steam in 2025 was 21,382. In mid-July 2026, just a little over halfway through the year, there’s already been 13,359 new titles launched.
I think Steam’s history can be carved up into three distinct eras:
- February 2006 – August 2012 (rarely more than 30 new games a week)
- August 2012 – June 2017, the Greenlight years (growth from ~20 new games to ~350 games per month)
- June 2017 – onwards, the Steam Direct years (from ~650 new games a month to ~1500)
Within that third era, growth has spiked since roughly the beginning of 2025. You have three guesses why. (And if you need a second guess, which secluded island paradise do you live on and how do I get there?)
I was prompted to look up these numbers on SteamDB after reading a recent article by Sulka Haro, co-founder of the Finnish studio behind early access MMO Pax Dei (he’s also worked on Habbo Hotel and a couple of The Walking Dead games). Haro has run a census on the roughly 53,600 Steam games released between mid-2023 and mid-2026 to determine how many come bearing an AI disclosure, keeping in mind that the disclosure box only rolled out in January 2024.
In 2024, 10.9% of games had an AI disclosure. In 2025, it was 19.9%. From the vantage point of July 2026, 30.8% of the games released on Steam this year so far have an AI disclosure (which corresponds with the much narrower “study” I conducted last month). According to Haro, the continuing growth of Steam’s “release volume” is hugely influenced by AI.
“Steam’s release volume has grown a lot—but the growth isn’t evenly spread,” Haro writes. “Non-AI launches have risen only modestly (~1,030 → ~1,320 per month), while AI-flagged launches went from a rounding error (~13/month pre-mandate) to ~530/month.”
If the amount of AI-flagged games continues to rise at the current trajectory, around half of all games on Steam will be AI-flagged at some point between 2027-2028. Still, as Haro discovers, basically none of them will make any money, and few of them are reviewed well by users, if they’re reviewed at all.
There are a huge amount of fascinating insights in Haro’s article and I highly recommend you check it out. Also don’t miss this follow-up which dives into, among other things, the genres that lean most heavily on generative AI (unsurprisingly: management sims are right at the top).
This growing tidal wave of AI-flagged content demonstrates that it’s only going to get harder for smaller devs, especially those without the support of a publisher, to stand out on Steam. Why would anyone bother looking for deep cuts when there are thousands of entirely AI-built visual novels to wade through, each more soulless and uncanny than the previous?
With the sludge rapidly rising from our throats to our nose, a Steam filter cannot come quickly enough.
Top Steam games by revenue (July 7 – 14)
Steam releases its top sellers charts on Wednesdays, so the below chart doesn’t factor in some late-week releases. That said, aside from Palworld’s 1.0 launch, there wasn’t much of note released last week.
|
Rank |
Game |
|---|---|
|
1 |
Counter-Strike 2 |
|
2 |
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced |
|
3 |
PUBG: Battlegrounds |
|
4 |
Palworld |
|
5 |
Dota 2 |
|
6 |
Granblue Fantasy: Relink |
|
7 |
Meccha Chameleon |
|
8 |
Marvel Rivals |
|
9 |
Apex Legends |
|
10 |
Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok Upgrade Kit (Standard Edition) |
An extremely sleepy week for new releases means there’s basically no surprises here. Mecca Chameleon is still going gangbusters, to the extent that it’s now spawning a pestilence of AI ripoffs. 2025’s Granblue Fantasy: Relink just got a hefty expansion, hence its return to the chart. Palworld got its 1.0 release, and people continue to play the usual live service candidates.
The lull is likely to continue. While Halo: Campaign Evolved hits next week (July 28), it’ll also be available on PC Game Pass, so Steam’s numbers won’t paint the full picture. After that, the next game most likely to make a splash is Star Wars Zero Company, which hits on August 27.
Last week’s Steam deep cuts
Steam review of the week
“It’s okay to kill people and throw them into an eldritch flesh-pit as long as they deserve it.
Is it a game about materialism? Is it about found family?
All I know is, it feels super cathartic to finally tackle and stab someone 58 times after being chased by a giant tree.”
Failgirl69, ruminating rather disturbingly on Feed the Pit.
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