Any gamer who regularly browses Steam (and, to a lesser degree, the console digital stores) is probably already aware of the sheer multitude of games that are coming to the market. For years now, the so-called backlog of each gamer has been getting longer due to the accumulation of previously unplayed titles and the launch of new titles. While to a certain extent this is proof of a vibrant industry, it also engenders a series of problems: obviously, there is only a finite amount of time that users can dedicate to their games, and they also compete against other hobbies.
Developers and publishers face the greatest issue: how to get noticed in the veritable sea of new releases. Nacon’s head of publishing Benoit Clerc talked about this in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz.
There are too many games currently on the market. We’re seeing today the results of investment made after COVID when the market was bursting, and every game was making a lot of money so there were a lot of investments being made. This is two or three years after that, so the games we’re seeing now on the market were financed in that time and there are simply too many for customers to be able to play them.
When you look at Steam some days, there are 50 or 60 games released in one day only so it’s more difficult to get enough traction to expose a game. We’re seeing releases that are without a day one, to use the old retail expression, without any exposure of a title that has been properly marketed.
Nacon’s solution to the problem is targeting niche genres, like off-road racing, roguelike, or sports games like Cricket or Tennis (both of which are covered by Big Ant Studios for Nacon).
From an industry standpoint, though, I believe the only way to reduce the frankly excessive number of games on the market is consolidation. Not the triple-A type of consolidation, though: in terms of numbers, triple-A titles are a minority. I’m referring to indie consolidation, where very small developers planning to create a certain type of game could band together. Instead of building two similar low-budget titles with zero marketing opportunities, they could craft a bigger one that stands a better chance of getting noticed. This would reduce the amount of game releases while potentially increasing their quality, which is what everyone is most interested in.
