There are almost 7000 games on Steam, how much is too much?

This is not, and has never been a problem. Having all the games is far preferable to keeping a great game off the service because it's not very popular.

Improvements should still be made to game discoverability, however.
TheSeks said:
Yep. Discovery update is awful and it feels like Valve has no intention of fixing it. I have no clue what is releasing and the main "NOW RELEASED" doesn't list all titles.
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You can change it to show all titles released. Look at the new release list and press "All new releases".
 
Steam is not perfect, but it is much better than any other digital store front out there today. As services get older they are naturally going to have more items available for download.

Most digital items tend to not go away, whereas, a b&m store have to rotate their stock due to the laws of supply and demand within the confinements of a physical store.

I would rather them be like they are now than the way they were before the Discovery update. Valve has done a lot to improve Steam and I can only see it getting better.
 
jellies_two said:
How many games in the AppStore?
Almost half a million.

436 new ones per day.
12000 per month.

And looking at revenue, it's also a david vs Goliath situation.
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I don't have a problem with an open platform in theory, but in reply to like the App Store numbers, I've just given up trying to find anything I want. I have to wait until someone tells me about the game because I just don't have the energy to swim through that uncurated mess. Same has happened with Steam pretty much...
 
Shake Appeal said:
If you read GAF, RockPaperShotgun, and do a little work with your wishlist or recommendations, discovery is never a problem.
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This is what I do. between GAF, RPS and a few other places, I think I am covered pretty well. Speaking of wells, I found out about Downwell through both RPS and GAF and it is a wonderful little Arcade shooter roguelike that was even on my Steam recommended list due to my likes and discovery tools they provide. I snatched it up for $2.00 in the fall sale.
 
I have no problems finding the kind of game I want to play on Steam. Checking the recomendations every day very quickly builds a very sizeable wishlist.

But I still get the feeling that one day, they'll find the secret sauce. I'll open steam, the layout will be different and I'll be "Woah! Now THIS is it!"

I don't have any idea what this layout is, but it is there! Waiting to be born!
 
orthodoxy1095 said:
I don't have a problem with an open platform in theory, but in reply to like the App Store numbers, I've just given up trying to find anything I want. I have to wait until someone tells me about the game because I just don't have the energy to swim through that uncurated mess. Same has happened with Steam pretty much...
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I dunno man. Everytime I thirst for a new game either I've heard of good ones here on Gaf, or I see that reception is overly positive or Metacritic on it is good, and I buy it. If the game sucks you can always ask for a refund.
 
Isn't the more the merrier?

Unless you have the unwarranted need to buy games at dirt cheap prices but will never play them.
 
I've been making great use of the Discovery Queue since it came out. It's helped me find new games and pass on the ones I'm not interested in.

So far, I've viewed 5,141 games. I have 228 on my wishlist that have caught my eyes (and they are at least mixed review are better). I'm following 116 games (early access or not yet released games that look interesting). I've said "not interested" to 4,797 games.

I think it's been a very helpful way for me to find new games. It doesn't take long to go through the list and since it takes you to the game's store page, you can watch videos of it, look at pictures, and read reviews.
 
Hopefully 7000 today pales in comparison to the number of games on Steam in the future. All Valve has to do is keep working on discoverability, which as you said they've already improved, and search.
 
I still spent £81 direct with Steam this year. Most of these transactions took place because of the Steam card market. I would have bought Rocket League outside of Steam if Psyonix had allowed me to on day one. I suspect I'll be cutting back on in game content (see Dota 2 compendiums, announcers) next year so that spend will probably go down even further. edit. For comparison my total gaming content spend is like £196 for the year.

It's all about price for me really. Why visit the Steam store when overwhelmingly other stores are cheaper?
draetenth said:
I've been making great use of the Discovery Queue
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I stopped scrolling when I saw repeated games.
 
Tagyhag said:
This isn't an issue that is going to go away either, ever since Valve opened the floodgates, we are seeing 5-10 games being released every single day and it hasn't stopped.[/URL]
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The issue is not how many games are available.

The actual issue is how many games AREN'T available that even were original PC releases.

There is so much abandonware that is almost impossible to get from so many platforms that could find new life and marketability on modern digital platforms.
 
There are over 12 million books on Amazon, how much is too much?

In other words, this:
epmode said:
This is not, and has never been a problem. Having all the games is far preferable to keeping a great game off the service because it's not very popular.
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There should be a filter on Steam to hide games the majority thinks are bad. I like to look for less known games, but there's too many bad games to wade through at the moment.
 
Teppic said:
There should be a filter on Steam to hide games the majority thinks are bad. I like to look for less known games, but there's too many bad games to wade through at the moment.
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I'd like an option to hide owned games a la Enhanced Steam. The highlighting is nice, but I still have skim through page after page of specials during the bigger sales and it's a bit of pain.
 
I think given the rating and review system is pretty clear, and that if someone has a problem with a game they don't hold back at all, no, I think no amount is too much. It's easy to see if a game is garbage or not, and so the good and bad are easily spotted.
 
Devs should know that they need to get social media to spotlight their game. Besieged for instance would never have been successful without social media.

Also, I don't think bundles help at all. I've noticed that most of the 900 games I've gotten from bundles have very few Steam reviews. If a developer gives away 100,000 keys they can only expect about 5 of their customers to write reviews. And reviews don't help with discoverability.
 
Corronchilejano said:
I dunno man. Everytime I thirst for a new game either I've heard of good ones here on Gaf, or I see that reception is overly positive or Metacritic on it is good, and I buy it. If the game sucks you can always ask for a refund.
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Sure that's how I find new games too, some combination of GAF, podcasts and other forums. So it's not like I'm lacking for games. I'm just saying from a storefront perspective, I can't be bothered to even browse through the App Store or Steam. Which is a shame because I actually used to enjoy doing that.
 
You don't have to buy all of them. It's been a while since being on steam meant anything about the quality of a game or got it any significant exposure. At this point there's little reason to stop games from being sold on steam. Greenlight was a shitty system to begin with and should just be abolished, even though it's not nearly as big a deal as it was at the start
 
Resident4t. said:
Only 7000? I expected more honestly.
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There is if you start considering games that have been delisted, and different subs for the same game in different regions.


Falk said:
"What's the point of making more people?"

real talk though overpopulation is rapidly becoming a problem
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Actually most population models suggest we will top out around 11-12 billion and then reach 'equilibrium.' Modern civilized countries like Japan and the Scandinavian countries are basically already there. Even the picture in the US would look a lot different if it weren't for immigration inflating our population growth. It's only a 'problem' in poorer countries where education standards are much worse.
 
This is why I do not play PC games and never will.

Where is the art in having 7000 games? PC constantly brute forces everything and this is another case of it.

I prefer a directed experience, a corridor platform.
 
People also have to remember that PC doesn't have segmented "generations"

So to compare the number of Steam games to the number of console games, you can't just look at PS4 games or Xbox One game. You have to count every PlayStation game ever made, from PS1 to PS4. Or every Nintendo game ever made, from NES to WiiU

I bet the amount of games are comparable

Dictator93 said:
This is why I do not play PC games and never will.

Where is the art in having 7000 games? PC constantly brute forces everything and this is another case of it.

I prefer a directed experience, a corridor platform.
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What an odd reason. Because there are a lot of PC games, you will never play PC games?

You do realize you can just search top sellers or just glance at the Steam home page, and it's exactly the same as checking out PSN or the eShop. It's a curated display of games
 
Just wait till you find out there are even more games outside of Steam and multiple routes to discovering them; even for the games on Steam there are multiple stores and routes for discovery
 
More_Badass said:
What an odd reason. Because there are a lot of PC games, you will never play PC games?

You do realize you can just search top sellers or just glance at the Steam home page, and it's exactly the same as checking out PSN or the eShop. It's a curated display of games
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That is undeniably a joke post. Not every one comes with a /s
 
Valve can actually start and do what they originally pimped with the Discoverbility update: Stop showing games i own on the front page deals. And stop recommending me 'Mad Max' - a game i finished after 51 hours via Family Sharing. There's still a lot of basic things Steam isn't doing.
 
Did you know that as time goes on there are going to be a very large number of video games? Don't worry, with all the drm schemes and whatnot I'm sure half of them will be unplayable anyway.
 
Dictator93 said:
This is why I do not play PC games and never will.

Where is the art in having 7000 games? PC constantly brute forces everything and this is another case of it.

I prefer a directed experience, a corridor platform.
Click to expand...

The Wii U sounds perfect for you!

JaseC said:
I'd like an option to hide owned games a la Enhanced Steam. The highlighting is nice, but I still have skim through page after page of specials during the bigger sales and it's a bit of pain.
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Steam should hire the guy behind Enhanced Steam
 
This might be the single weirdest co plaint I have ever heard about gaming.

Find a few gaming blogs/sites that seem to mirror your taste: boom, now you know about games.
 
I don't think the number of games is the problem. Having lots of games is fine.

The issue to me is, the website just isn't designed to hold that number of games. There just isn't enough options to filter games and search through everything. Enhanced Steam helps a bit, but I don't think you should have to use a third party add on to get this kind of stuff. It should be built into the site by default. :/
 
7,000 games seems like a really low number of games considering it's 2015 and there are probably tens of thousands of old games from a timespan of decades that are not for sale, hard to obtain, require expensive, extinct, illegal or not for sale computer hardware that would massively benefit from being ported or emulated to run on new hardware and then sold on a popular distribution platform.
 
Zafir said:
I don't think the number of games is the problem. Having lots of games is fine.

The issue to me is, the website just isn't designed to hold that number of games. There just isn't enough options to filter games and search through everything. Enhanced Steam helps a bit, but I don't think you should have to use a third party add on to get this kind of stuff. It should be built into the site by default. :/
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Precisely. I know it's extremely hard and I honestly can't think of a good example, but currently just browsing the store for games isn't fun. I can spend an hour on amazon not necessarily looking for anything in particular but enjoying the process nonetheless. Ideally that's something that should also be true with online game storefronts like Steam.
And at the end of the day it's probably small developers who suffer as a result.
 
More is perfectly fine. My issue is early access and green light stuff in general. That crap needs to be monitored and regulated far better.
 
outunderthestars said:
This might be the single weirdest co plaint I have ever heard about gaming.

Find a few gaming blogs/sites that seem to mirror your taste: boom, now you know about games.
Click to expand...

I don't have a problem finding the games, but do you expect everyone to have to follow third parties to find new games?

I'm just saying it'd be great if Steam had better discovery tools so games aren't drowned out.

Like, if there were 12 million games on Steam with its current system, why should an indie dev even consider the PC as a priority if they know they'll probably get more attention on consoles?

People in this thread are thinking more about themselves and not about the developers or gamers who don't follow gaming sites.
 
Dev: "So, I've built a game using a really great mechanic that I think would work really well on Steam"

Gaben: "Let me stop you right there. Unfortunately we've filled our quota for game numbers. Better luck on GMG."

Basically, you can't limit creativity with numbers. Just publish them all and let the cream rise.
 
krang said:
Dev: "So, I've built a game using a really great mechanic that I think would work really well on Steam"

Gaben: "Let me stop you right there. Unfortunately we've filled our quota for game numbers. Better luck on GMG."

Basically, you can't limit creativity with numbers. Just publish them all and let the cream rise.
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I'm not talking about capping the numbers, just better discovery tools.
 
Tagyhag said:
I'm not talking about capping the numbers, just better discovery tools.
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But how would you do that with such high numbers? Subcategories within subcategories? "Game of the day" type adverts? Randomised front page promotion?

It's tough, but you've basically got to let these devs/publishers take care of independent marketing.
 
I've viewed something like 4500 in my queue (plus another ~1000 owned). It's amazing how much indie gaming grew in the past few years. More games and choices is a good thing, but discovery can be a huge bottleneck.
 
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