Gaming is gonna need publishers more then

If you follow the game industry and Steam, you’ve probably seen plenty about how the store is being “overrun” with games made with AI.

There are certainly more games being published than ever. SteamDB counts roughly 14,000 releases in 2023, 18,400 in 2024, and 21,200 in 2025. As of November 4, more than 24,500 have already been released in 2026.

Of those 2026 releases, more than 9,500 disclose AI-generated content. That doesn’t necessarily mean the entire game was made with AI, but it gives some sense of the volume.

I don’t think Valve’s open approach to game publishing will scale without more people helping players sort through it.

I think what you need is large-scale tastemakers. Which is to say, publishers.

Over the past decade or so, it feels like publishers have lost some of their power as developers have become more able to publish their own games. A few specialized publishers have done well by developing a particular taste, especially in the indie space.

I think that role will become more valuable. The job of publishers will be to sort through the slush pile and champion the gems they find, much like book publishing.

How they work with storefronts like Steam will be another story. But I think it will be in Valve’s interest—and PC gaming’s interest—to give these publishers a more prominent role in helping players find games.

I just don’t see how Valve can put enough people on its own to do that well.