Over 50% of all steam games have never made over $1000
Over 50% of all steam games have never made over $1000
Infographic: Steam video game market report 2023

Over 50% of all steam games have never made over $1000
Infographic: Steam video game market report 2023

Yeah exactly. Because to me it implies that less than 90% is shovelware crap, and I cannot quite believe this. It doesn't feel that way, even with all the filtering Steam offers nowadays.
Compare the Nintendo eShop, which doesn't filter and where Nintendo doesn't care, and the endless pages and pages and pages of shovelware you need to scroll through (and 15 iterations of AAA Clock for 2€, 80% off! 😅) to find each single proper game.
I would have thought 2%-3% make money, honestly.
There is probably some bias because games that make money stick around a lot longer. I doubt most games released in the last three years (which seems to be the time they looked at) that made no money are still on there.
I mean releasing a game on Steam is not free. You pay a $100 fee per game to Valve to release on their store.
That at least seems to stop the flood of shovelware a tiny bit.
With VN makers and Midjourney, you can pump out a half way decent VN in no time. I've honestly thought of doing a cheesy one for my DnD players as their story recap each session, but I already spend so much time on the rest of the game...