With over 13,000 new games on Steam this year so far, over a third of them haven't even made enough to break even on Valve's submission fee
Over a third of games released on Steam this year might not have even made enough money to break even on Valve's submission fee, according to Steam analytics site Gamalytic.
As reported by GamesRadar, Gamalytic estimates that almost 13,000 new entries have hit Steam since the beginning of this year, highlighted by Soulash developer Artur Smiarowski over on X. While it's not quite as many as 2024's total releases yet—last year saw a whopping 18,000 games come out—it's almost on par with 2023's 13,179 releases with a few months still to go.
Over 13,000 games have been released on Steam this year so far.8% of the releases are estimated to have grossed over $100k.40% didn't see a return on their $100 release cost.We might have reached the peak of the indie gold rush last year. pic.twitter.com/QWejYdsyXnOctober 20, 2025
An unfortunate side effect of a crap ton of new videogames is that a large chunk will, inevitably, fall to the wayside. So many, in fact, that Smiarowski's post goes on to declare that roughly 40% of 2025 Steam games didn't even make enough money ($1,000) to recoup the $100 submission fee developers or publishers have to pay to get the game on Steam in the first place.
Smiarowski also highlights that around 8% of this year's Steam games—roughly 1,140 of 'em—managed to gross over $100,000, a percentage he highlights as being pretty par for the course over the years. Considering 2025 is shaping up to be the second-biggest year of this decade in terms of raw release numbers, Smiarowski surmises that means "more developers found success each year thus far."
As GamesRadar points out, Gamalytic's methodology isn't 100% accurate by the site's own admission, thanks to Steam keeping a relatively tight lid on a lot of its data. The less popular a game is, the less accurate estimations Gamalytic has for it. It's still an interesting overall glimpse at the state of things though, and the somewhat depressing (if not all that surprising) revelation that it's freaking hard to get your videogame noticed in an ever-enlarging crowd.
Here's a list of bottom 70 or so with up to $10 price tag. pic.twitter.com/OH5sttzK8fOctober 20, 2025
Smiarowski also shared some of the lowest-selling games on Steam "with up to $10 price tag," so naturally I went poking through a few different store pages to see what we're all missing out on. I was largely expecting to see a heap of Vampire Survivors clones and deckbuilders—and trust me, they're there—but I was surprised at what a rich variety was lurking at the bottom of Valve's pile.
Puzzlers, 2D platformers, cel-shaded cyberpunk motorbike brawlers. Stuff that, with better visibility, might have had a shot. Perhaps not the one titled Femdom Tower Defence, though.