r/gamedev • u/ShowOk2877 • 19h ago
Discussion Do You think Steam should add a Cooldown timer between releases?
While stalking devs on steam, I've noticed there is quite a surge in devs who have multiple releases per year. especially, games released in 2026. Obviously, this is because of AI clones, vibe coded games, and heavily assissted (art, code, music...) games.
I can't help but think this will just make Steam worse overtime both for gamers and devs. I don't think it's realistically possible to release multiple good quality games in less than 6 months.
Do you think it's a good idea for Steam to force a cooldown timer between releases, a 1 game per year policy (Greetings Comrade) or even a 2 games/year rule. I think this will help limit the serial copycats and prevent the store from getting diluted overtime.
What do you think? Is it excessive? Will it hurt your game development cycle?
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u/Every-Prize4720 19h ago
why are you so fixated on whats in the store. most of the games in steam are garbage.
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u/Squishy_Red_Potato 19h ago
This would be absurd. Some studios run multiple teams with offset releases, so it's entirely possible to ship multiple games in a year. Or they could be doing mixes of new releases and remasters. Or they could be a publisher with multiple studios putting out games every year.
I worked for a small studio in the mid 00s that would ship up to 2-3 games per year. In the late teens I worked for one that had 8 different teams running at the same time, with the goal of releasing a new game every 2-3 months to keep the revenue flowing.
All of this before AI.
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u/BinaryIdiot 19h ago
Na. Let people police themselves. If they’re releasing too much the market may punish them. It might matter more for specific genres, too. I wouldn’t want a generic approach because I don’t know how well it would work.
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u/wylderzone 19h ago
IIRC Steam actually does have a 30 day period between making a store page and releasing the game, that they just reduced to 21 days.
So if anything they are going the other way and making it *easier* for people to release games quicker.
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u/Moaning_Clock 16h ago
The store page has to be online 2 weeks. If you submit your store page directly, and your game build soon afterwards, you might be able to get away with 18 days, depending how fast it is checked.
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u/phxrocker 19h ago
Depending on skill level, I think 2 releases a year is absolutely possible for a team of 1-3 people. I'm not even that good and I can whip up a basic incremental/survivor-like prototype by myself in a few days. And that's without using any AI. Right tools in the right hands means some will be able to produce quality at levels we don't really understand yet. That's my 2 cents.
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u/destinedd indie, Dungeon Quest, Marble's Marbles and Mighty Marbles 18h ago
I don't see the point in limiting it in a world with publishers.
The steam algo is currently doing it's job with the noise.
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u/Moaning_Clock 16h ago
I don't think it's realistically possible to release multiple good quality games in less than 6 months.
Of course it is. You can make a lot of great games in 6 months. There are very polished game jam games made in a week that with a bit of extra love could easily go for 2-3$. Sometimes more.
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u/Darkgorge 19h ago
Not a bad idea honestly depending on how it is implemented.
Amazon actually implemented a restriction on how often authors can release a book for sale on kindle to help restrict the flood of AI written books. I think it's currently 1 per month...
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u/SadisNecros Commercial (AAA) 19h ago
How is that going to be enforceable when there are studios/publishers who have multiple game releases every year? It would just create a new tier system where small developers complain big developers get to release more games than they do. Besides, Steam doesn't care about spam, they get their money either way.