In 2023, a remarkable 14,532 titles made their debut on Steam, as reported by sources diligently tracking releases throughout the year. This extensive catalog included acclaimed games like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Sea of Stars, alongside more questionable entries like The Day Before. The sheer volume of new titles on the Steam platform in 2023 continued the upward trajectory for Valve.
The year also marked a significant milestone for Steam, commemorating its 20th year as a storefront. A series of sales events, including the 2023 Steam Winter Sale, took place, concluding at the time of this writing. To cap off an eventful year, a Steam beta client build was introduced, addressing a longstanding user request by providing enhanced privacy control over games and achievements. Despite its evolution from a Counter-Strike launcher, Steam, under Valve’s stewardship, exhibits no signs of slowing down. As 2024 unfolds, a retrospective glance emphasizes the substantial growth of the Steam platform.
Based on data compiled by SteamDB, the year 2023 witnessed the launch of 14,532 games on the Steam platform, marking a notable increase of almost 2,000 titles compared to the previous year, 2022. In contrast, 2022 experienced the release of 12,561 games on Valve’s PC platform, continuing a growth trend that had been ongoing since 2019. The most significant surge in Steam game releases occurred between 2018 and 2019, with 8,900 and 8,134 releases, respectively.
The 2023 game releases on Steam, which prominently featured titles like Baldur’s Gate 3, exhibited a diverse range of quality. This variation was attributed to the platform’s increased allowance of game development tools and Valve adopting a more lenient approach to curating the available releases on Steam.
Steam Release Numbers From 2019 to 2023
Between 2019 and 2023, the quantity of games released on Steam experienced a steady upward trajectory. In 2019, there were 8,134 game releases, and this number surged to 8,900 in 2020. The trend of growth continued in 2021 with 12,561 releases, followed by a notable increase to 14,532 games in 2023. This progression highlights the consistent expansion of the gaming catalog on the Steam platform over the specified five-year period.
The disclosure of these statistics by SteamDB occurred shortly after Valve unveiled the winners of the 2023 Steam Awards. Despite BG3 securing the top award for 2023 on Steam, users expressed their skepticism on social media regarding Red Dead Redemption 2 and Starfield winning awards in the “Labor of Love” and “Most Innovative Gameplay” categories, respectively. With already over 110 titles released in 2024 and counting, Steam seems poised to maintain a similar pace of releases this year.
The final tally of game releases for the year remains uncertain. As the year unfolds, and with upcoming releases coupled with a series of planned sales on Steam throughout 2024, Valve may well sustain the momentum it has built over the course of several years.
