Chris Zukowski, who has long studied the Steam market and is also a marketing consultant and independent game consultant, once again made his observation during an interview at GDC: Steam may be entering a new golden age, and the special thing isIt’s not that a single hot model brings about a single trend, but that multiple types emerge together and reap dividends together.He thinks the past was like“Vampire Survivors (Vampire Survivors/Vampire Survivors)”The kind of window period that once put roguelike into a window period where “it’s easier to succeed if you do it in the right direction” is now happening to more genres at the same time.
It seems that after drinking, everyone has lowered their guard and are willing to try more games.
Zukowski used a very vivid metaphor: Steam players in recent years seem to have put down their guard and are more willing to try different types and more niche gameplay. This atmosphere would make new genres more receptive and even more tolerant of the roughness of the work. He also pointed out that compared to consoles, there is a more stringent review and update process.Steam has fast iterations and low repair costs, and players are more accustomed to playing first and then checking for updates, so it is easier for small team works to build reputation through continuous revisions.。
Don’t dream big at the beginning, start with short and quick goals
In this period of multi-genre activity, Zukowski instead recommends developers return to more old-school strategies:First use short-term, quick small projects to practice, accumulate exposure, and test the market temperature. If you are lucky, you can make a small victory and help lay the foundation for the next large multi-year project.. Because in his eyes, these exploding genres are particularly suitable for experimentation, rather than betting all resources on a hell-level masterpiece from the beginning.
Not everyone will benefit, and not everyone will win if they do it.
Zukowski also stressed that many people misunderstood the golden age as a gold rush, thinking that they could pick up gold just by entering the market. But he thinks a more reasonable metaphor is: gold doesn’t appear everywhere,You have to find the right place and choose the right type of window. Market trends are inherently cyclical, and when there is a boom, it will ebb; even if the environment is relatively friendly, there is still no guarantee of success in making games. The reason why this statement resonates is very straightforward. The number of Steam games released every year is exploding, but there are still only a few works that can actually be seen.The key is always whether what you do just hits the group of people who are willing to pay.。