Is the Gaming Industry Drowning in Its Own Success?
Renowned video game journalist Jason Schreier has analyzed the current state of the gaming market and concluded that the industry is facing a significant problem: oversaturation. The sheer volume of new releases, while offering players more choice, is creating an increasingly difficult landscape for developers to stand out and for players to keep up.
Schreier points to September 2025 as a prime example of this market saturation. The month saw the release of highly anticipated titles like Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight: Silksong and Supergiant Games’ full version of Hades II. Both games garnered high critical acclaim and are considered among the year's best. However, sandwiched between these major launches were numerous other significant projects, including a remake of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, a new Borderlands installment, the cooperative puzzle game LEGO Voyagers, a fresh Dying Light entry, and a continuation of the Silent Hill franchise. And that's just a single month.
The Rise of Digital Distribution and Its Consequences
In recent years, the industry has seen thousands of employees laid off due to slowing growth, and the post-COVID-19 era has left behind expensive investments that failed to pay off. But the core issue, Schreier argues, is simply too many games.
According to SteamDB data, 2024 saw 18,624 games released on Steam, nearly double the 9,656 titles launched in 2020. This explosive growth is attributed to the increasing popularity of interactive entertainment, more accessible development tools, and lower market entry barriers. Historically, getting a game onto store shelves without a publisher was almost impossible. Now, digital distribution has leveled the playing field, allowing countless developers to release their work directly to players.
However, this accessibility comes with a downside: most new games go unnoticed. Out of 1,315 releases in 2024 that garnered over 500 reviews, only about 260 received 90% or higher positive ratings. Another 800 games earned 80% or more. This indicates that the problem isn't necessarily a lack of quality; many new projects are excellent, but they simply get lost in the shuffle.
Competing Against the Giants and the Backlog Burden
New games aren't just competing with each other; they're also up against established live-service giants like Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and PUBG, which retain players for years. This makes the market incredibly challenging for most developers. Hundreds of people dedicate years to creating games that ultimately disappear among thousands of other releases.
Schreier isn't sure there's a clear solution. Reverting to a 'gatekeeper' era would be a step backward, especially since the democratization of game development has led to more creative and interesting projects. While this oversaturation can be daunting for gamers, it also offers them unprecedented choice, provided they can overcome the fear of missing out and resist the urge to play every new release immediately.
For companies investing hundreds of millions of dollars into games that need massive sales to succeed, this market reality poses a severe challenge—one that only grows more difficult with each passing year.
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