More than 11k games released on Steam in 2021, with 30 titles coming out daily

Data platform VG Insights has shared a new report on the number of new games released on Steam in 2021. The store set a new record, thanks to three dozen titles launched there every single day.

Last year, Steam welcomed 11.7k games, which is almost two thousand titles more than in 2020. Most of these titles, however, are still small hobby or shovelware projects, VG Insights reported.

27% of games released on Steam last year sold less than 100 copies, with only 8% of all new titles reaching 10k units sold or more.

Steam remains a mecca for indie developers as indie games account for 98% of all titles released on the store last year. And their share grows with each year. According to the data shared by VG Insights, there were only around 200 new AA or AAA games launched on Valve’s platform in 2021.

Although the majority of titles on Steam are self-published, the picture looks drastically different if we look at only those games that reached 500+ copies sold. Most of these projects are launched with the help of third-party publishers.

COVID-19 had a huge impact on the games industry. The number of games released by AA and AAA studios almost halved since the beginning of the pandemic. However, they finally managed to adapt to the new reality last year, with a number of new titles released every quarter going back to the pre-pandemic levels (around 40-50 new games come out per quarter).

The overall number of new titles, however, has grown since the beginning of the pandemic. 3350 new games were launched during Q4 2021, which is 68% more than pre-covid.

The full report by VG Insights can be found here.