Global Game Industry Trend Vol. 79: Industry Responses Amid Intensifying Competition for New Releases (KOCCA)

Summary

• 55.1% of 2026 Steam releases have fewer than 10 reviews, a serious discoverability problem.p.10
• Steam accounts for more than 70% of PC game download market revenue.p.10
• Steam saw a record 725 new releases in the last week of September 2026.p.16
• September 2026 releases reached 2,832.p.16
• Xbox Cloud Gaming caps monthly use at 15 hours for Game Pass Ultimate, 10 for Premium and 5 for Essential.p.24

Key insights

1. 88% of the 306 studios interviewed by Rokky said they earn more than 75% of total revenue on Steam.p.10
2. Steam Next Fest exposes every participating game at random for the first two days, then weights featured exposure by demo play time.p.12
3. Reddit, Discord, indie festivals and Next Fest work as independent promotion channels that must connect with each other.p.12
4. Rockstar revised its modding guidelines on September 10, banning edits that alter official story, missions or characters.p.22
5. Microsoft is moving cloud gaming from unlimited subscription to usage-based billing.p.24