38% of all Steam games were released this year

That’s right – on the biggest digital PC games store front in the world, over a third of its total catalogue was only released on the service in 2016.

Steam Spy has revealed that so far in 2016 there have been an incredible 4,207 games released on Steam. That’s 38 per cent of its entire library.

In 2015 that number reached 2,964. In 2014 it was 1,772. In 2013 it was far less – 565. Go back to 2006 and that total reaches just 71.

Why is this change notable? Steam is a fantastic service, but the main criticism levelled at is concerns the lack of control. Releasing a game on Steam is far, far easier than launching one on consoles, where quality checks and assorted loop jumping abounds.

Steam’s system may be arguably good for choice, but it also means that Steam buyers have fewer assurances about what they’re buying. These concerns, Valve would no doubt argue, are at least partly abated by the user review and curator systems, and the no-quibble two hour or 14 day money back guarantee.

Visibility, however, is another big issue. Developers are finding it increasingly hard to get noticed on the service, and these numbers show why.

38% of all Steam games were released in 2016 pic.twitter.com/JiX2pt6JhB

— Steam Spy (@Steam_Spy) November 30, 2016