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[Raven77]

The N64 had 296 games released in the US. The Super Nintendo had around 770.

PS1 had 1,278

PS2 had 1,860

PS3 had around 1,500

PS5 has 1,200 physical games and 3,100 digital.

On steam in 2015 there were on average around 275 games released per month.

In 2025 there were around 1,800 games released on steam PER MONTH.

Personally I feel like it's really hard to keep up with all of the good releases. Steam seems to have multiple games releasing every week that are highly rated.

In the past this wasn't a problem. Again my opinion but I feel like less games is better. I just so happens that the console with the fewest amount of games has the most amount of games that I actually remember. The N64. I don't think that's a coincidence, it just had a lot less "noise" than modern consoles do. Most people generally had one, maybe two consoles.

When your favorite console only gets two or three games released a month every release is exciting. Every game has time to breathe, where you can enjoy it for months without feeling like you have to jump to the next big release.

Curious what other people think.

 

[Artistic]

Not at all.

 

[Labadal]

I stopped FOMOing, and just playing what I have. I buy a few games per year, and nothing at full price.

Accepting that you cannot play everything is a big step.

 

[StoopKidz]

Those Steam figures are highly skewed by slop like "Homeless Simulator" and "Toenail Fungus Extractor".

 

[FudgeIt]

I stopped FOMOing, and just playing what I have. I buy a few games per year, and nothing at full price.

Accepting that you cannot play everything is a big step.

Naw I can't accept that shit

 

[Three]

I have a backlog that I've not been able to clear since the 360/PS3 gen. So I went with the second option. Yes, and unable to play them all.

 

[analog_future]

21,000 games released in 2025.


Yes.

 

[Labadal]

Naw I can't accept that shit

I had a backlog of 1000+ games a few years back. Beat a lot of them, and gave up on a lot of them, but now I am down to less than 500.

There are too many games released, as you say, but you just have to try and find the ones you get a feeling for.

For instance, I want to get Crimson Desert, but I'm not buying yet, because I would need a spare 200 hours for it.

 

[Danjin44]

Yes! but its good problem to have.

 

[Deerock71]

I'd say there's only one:

But Lies of P being fully on the cart is likely pushing me into purchase territory.

 

[Black_Stride]

Yes.

Thats why MS and Sony should cull all their studios.
Lets go back the blockbuster model.
Everyone plays that one hot game of the year and we all talk about it.
All other games are fodder your weird cousin plays and you wonder how he even found it.

 

[Instant_Classic]

Maybe .00001% of the released games in the modern release count are of any quality.

It's easier to produce and release a game today with UE5, Unity, and digital distribution factored in than it was 20+ years ago.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Absolutely. I have trouble keeping up with official releases sometimes much less all of the things filtering through the indie scene. And that's not even in consideration of all the games I never played from 20 plus years ago that I'm still planning to get to one day before I abruptly die.

 

[PeteBull]

I got time to play those games, but not to finish, and with many western studios dropping the ball it increases competition when we getting many new high quality AAA releases, that way im not constrained nor held hostage to mids and operate with abundance mindset
Basically as a gamer u are in a situation of professional high paid nba or nfl player/young handsome multimilionaire/A-list celeb and games are the bimbos who all wanna get time and financial commitment from u, u make the rules coz u are the prize

Now imagine if we were living durning gaming drought, that would make us all desperate and thirsty as hell, to the point we would behave like those hobosexuals, aka guys who will live (not just pump and dump, but give actuall longterm commitment)with masculine ratchet woman just to get roof over their head
And lemme tell u, it doesnt look pretty at all:

 

[ungalo]

if you count Steam indie slop of course, if not, no not really.

Yes.

Thats why MS and Sony should cull all their studios.
Lets go back the blockbuster model.
Everyone plays that one hot game of the year and we all talk about it.
All other games are fodder your weird cousin plays and you wonder how he even found it.

That's not the old model, it's the current model. One "hot"as you say, overrhyped to the death game per year and nothing else.

 

[StereoVsn]

I stopped FOMOing, and just playing what I have. I buy a few games per year, and nothing at full price.

Accepting that you cannot play everything is a big step.

Yeah, much like with books, movies and TV, I accepted that I am just going to miss a ton of good games. I have limited time and it is what it is.

And you can't blame Valve for this either. They tried to curate at one point and everyone and their brother (including gaming press) jumped down their throat for that.

 

[DarkShadowXI]

I stopped viewing my games as a backlog and as a library, instead.

I play whatever I'm in the mood for and love the hype and community around a new game. I'll drop a game if I'm not enjoying it anymore and might come back to it later.

There are games out there for everyone. You just gotta know where to look.

That wasn't the case in the 90's, but we did value and play what we had. It was just a different time, but I still loved playing the newest stuff back then.

 

[R6Rider]

Yes, especially on Steam.

I actually burst out laughing at the start of the SGF when Geoff showed a chart with nearly 10,000 games released so far in 2026 as if it was a good thing.

All the asset flip, mostly AI, achievement machines, and just straight up garbage should NEVER even be allowed to be on any of the stores. Have some integrity and standards.

 

[Shifty1897]

Yes, I've really had to prioritize which genres and IP's I enjoy the most and reconcile with the knowledge that some 90+ Metacritic games are just not going to get played since I can really only finish about ten games a year.

 

[StueyDuck]

Too many games? Yes

Good games? No

Content slop... most of it

 

[Instant_Classic]

Yes, especially on Steam.

I actually burst out laughing at the start of the SGF when Geoff showed a chart with nearly 10,000 games released so far in 2026 as if it was a good thing.

All the asset flip, mostly AI, achievement machines, and just straight up garbage should NEVER even be allowed to be on any of the stores. Have some integrity and standards.

This, a reason for the count being so high now is because back then to release a game that wasn't freeware you need a publisher.

A lot of these games in that 10,000 games count wouldn't get any one to publish them.

 

[Hideous Snake]

In what world is less games better? You know you don't have to play every game on launch day right? Having a lot of options is good. I hate it when I have nothing to play

Also it's not like we're all interested in all the games that get released.

21,000 games released in 2025.


Yes.

And you're interested in all 21k games??

 

[AndrewRyan]

The steamdeck is sort of a performance filter on new games for me. Anyways, there's not really such a thing a too many new games. There's always time to play them later, except for the day there isn't.

 

[Fbh]

Yes.
And it's a big reason why I barely buy anything on day 1 anymore.
I have so many games from the last 2-3 years on my wishlist, and there's always something I want to play on sale.

I'm playing KCD2 right now which I got for $30, and I recently picked up Ninja Gaiden 2 Black for $25 and The Alters for like $18. And I still have like 25+ games on my wishlist, with new ones getting added almost every month.

Why pay $60-70 for a game when there's always like 20+ games on my wishlist that I find just as appealing and are usually way cheaper.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

In a way yes, there's only so much time you can spread around, I used to finish games much more consistently, like "backlog" wasn't really a thing for me during the 360 era; now my backlog is fucking huge.

 

[FudgeIt]

I had a backlog of 1000+ games a few years back. Beat a lot of them, and gave up on a lot of them, but now I am down to less than 500.

There are too many games released, as you say, but you just have to try and find the ones you get a feeling for.

For instance, I want to get Crimson Desert, but I'm not buying yet, because I would need a spare 200 hours for it.

I am the same way regarding Crimson Desert. I might play this when I am on vacation in July. I am off for a month and I will be turning off my computer. Might play after some pool days.

I feel like I like to experience a lot of different games, even if they are similar. I wish we had more time for games for sure. Sometimes I look at the Steam games I have wishlisted and I am like, wow, I wish I can play these quickly enough. Now I don't have a steam device, so I am sort of anxiously waiting for a Steam Machine. That won't help the backlog.

 

[Black_Stride]

That's not the old model, it's the current model. One "hot"as you say, overrhyped to the death game per year and nothing else.

2026 so far.

Resident Evil Requiem
Saros - bite me
Crimson Desert
Forza Horizon 6
007 First Light
Pragmata
Pokopia
Nioh 3
Screamer


You what love?

 

[RickMasters]

Maybe .00001% of the released games in the modern release count are of any quality.

It's easier to produce and release a game today with UE5, Unity, and digital distribution factored in than it was 20+ years ago.

true but even among the big games. too many releasing. not enough people buying because service games like fortnight and roblox are suckin up mass market casual gamers time and money. there are supposedly a billion gamers out there yet 99% of games barely hit a meanigful fraction of that number of players


Just look at this:

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indu...than-steam-playstation-and-fortnite-combined/



shit like roblox sucess is coming at the expense of the rest of the industry. imagine all of those hours, and all that engagement.... which equals money, that is not being spent on other games? the industry has a problem from within that has trained a young generation of gamers with already short attention spans, to value nothing about traditional video games. in the same way people stop going movies because of netflix, and stopped buying music because of spotify and youtube. devs are spending hundreds of millions making games that will probably only see 5 million lifetime sales over the course of years if im being generously optimistic....and even then they may say its a faliure. just look at square-enix. always complaining about sales even though they sell millions.and they aint the only publisher who feels like that. what constitutes a sucesseful game anymore? is the investors seeing all that roblox money and naively thinking they can mimic its financial success? so many issues with the gaming biz as a whole.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Lucky for me I find 99,9% of all games to be complete horse shit, especially the AAA ones.

 

[buttnuggett]

September and October are simply gonna be a bloodbath. God forbid GTA delays again. MS made a good decision to delay Fable.

 

[sodstall]

You will never play every game and no one game will be played by every person....So, No.

 

[Roman Empire]

I think there are just too many games in general.

I'm not one to say the industry should shrink or that the number of releases should decrease, far from it. But realistically speaking, and taking the macroeconomics into consideration, there will be victims even between good games.

It's survival of the fittest in this wild industry. No one can play everything out there, and there is just so much people and time to be divided between all these games, backlogs included. All in all, there's no right or wrong solution here.

 

[FudgeIt]

Lucky for me I find 99,9% of all games to be complete horse shit, especially the AAA ones.

Which were the last few games you've played that you thought weren't horse shit?

 

[Puscifer]

I stopped FOMOing, and just playing what I have. I buy a few games per year, and nothing at full price.

Accepting that you cannot play everything is a big step.

Yeah I noticed this phenomenon when there was a YouTuber I liked (Atrocity Guide) took a year for a long video and worked hard to get interviews that other people who covered the same subject didn't.

Rather than focus on the quality of what she output, the interviews she obtained and the presentation everyone bitch she covered a subject that other channels touched on already.

Meanwhile, because I don't spend my life in YouTube, I had no idea about it.

You can't watch everything
You can't read everything
You can't be everywhere
You can't do it all

Enjoy your peace and the moment

 

[Danjin44]

Too many games? Yes

Good games? No

Content slop... most of it

Thats true with every generation. People say PS2 had lots of greats games and it had but people also forget there was stupid amount of shovelware games.....type of game that would be $1.99 on PSN store but back in PS2 era they got physical release.

 

[Danjin44]

Lucky for me I find 99,9% of all games to be complete horse shit, especially the AAA ones.

 

[ungalo]

2026 so far.

Resident Evil Requiem
Saros - bite me
Crimson Desert
Forza Horizon 6
007 First Light
Pragmata
Pokopia
Nioh 3
Screamer


You what love?

that's weak

pick a year in the 2000s you can make a list of big games, "blockbusters" didn't walk alone back in the days

 

[Instant_Classic]

true but even among the big games. too many releasing. not enough people buying because service games like fortnight and roblox are suckin up mass market casual gamers time and money. there are supposedly a billion gamers out there yet 99% of games barely hit a meanigful fraction of that number of players


Just look at this:

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indu...than-steam-playstation-and-fortnite-combined/



shit like roblox sucess is coming at the expense of the rest of the industry. imagine all of those hours, and all that engagement.... which equals money, that is not being spent on other games? the industry has a problem from within that has trained a young generation of gamers with already short attention spans, to value nothing about traditional video games. in the same way people stop going movies because of netflix, and stopped buying music because of spotify and youtube. devs are spending hundreds of millions making games that will probably only see 5 million lifetime sales over the course of years if im being generously optimistic....and even then they may say its a faliure. just look at square-enix. always complaining about sales even though they sell millions.and they aint the only publisher who feels like that. what constitutes a sucesseful game anymore? is the investors seeing all that roblox money and naively thinking they can mimic its financial success? so many issues with the gaming biz as a whole.

Great points

 

[DEAD ORIGINAL]

There's always been shovelware but on PS1 to PS3, because games were physical, it was easier to see great games, and shit ones were moved to bargain bins, now it's mainly digital those shit games are put next to good ones, so it's like a sewer and someone's thrown some gold in it.

 

[Black_Stride]

that's weak

pick a year in the 2000s you can make a list of big games, "blockbusters" didn't walk alone back in the days

I was already an adult in 07

We need to go back further.

 

[Grenseal]

Well, when you remove the pron games, it's really only like 2 a month, right?

Spoiler

Yeah, I stole the joke from Fleekazoid

 

[BlackTron]

N64 had outstanding pillar titles, but the small library and software droughts were a problem not to lauded. It didn't have enough games to save itself.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Why did you skip NES and PS4 numbers of games??

 

[buttnuggett]

Lucky for me I find 99,9% of all games to be complete horse shit, especially the AAA ones.

Me as well. I only play life and farming sims, strategy and western rpgs.

 

[deeptech]

Very few what I would consider games, all else is trash to me, so no, not at all.