20,282 Steam games released in 2025 — only 608 hit 1,000 reviews
Annual game releases on Steam reached 20,282 in 2025, and just 608 of those games managed to reach 1,000 user reviews, according to analysis from indie developer and marketing expert Chris Zukowski. Zukowski's report, titled "What the hell happened in 2025," says 2.99% of 2025's Steam releases hit 1,000 reviews — up from 2.44% in 2024, 2.56% in 2023, and 2.74% in 2022 — marking a small turnaround after years of slight decline.
He also cautions his survey stops at the 1,000-review threshold and that some games can earn $150K+ with as few as 500 reviews. Breaking down the 608 standout games by genre, Zukowski lists the top 10 by count: Narrative (51), Simulation (43), Horror (39), RPG (28), Idle/incremental (27), Roguelike (22), Sexual content (21), Multiplayer shooter (21), Shooter (21) and Management (19).
He notes narrative games have risen partly due to a wave of FMV titles from China. Measured by the share of genre entries that reached 1,000 reviews, open-world survival craft led at 20.8% (15 games), followed by farming at 8.3% (five games). Other strong genres included roguelike deckbuilders (5.1%, 11 games), simulation (4.1%, 43 games), management (3.4%, 19 games) and racing (2.1%, 14 games).
By contrast, 2D platformers and point-and-click adventures each had just 0.18% meet the benchmark (three games apiece), and puzzle games reached 0.34% from 4,022 releases, with one of the few puzzle winners being Blue Prince.
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