March turned out to be perhaps the most eventful month of the first quarter of 2026. In our traditional column, we present plenty of data and graphics on revenue, sales, and other metrics of the main new releases, as well as information on interesting records and the most anticipated games of April.
Games discussed in this article:
- Revenue, sales, and other metrics of major March releases: Slay the Spire 2, Crimson Desert, Pokémon Pokopia, Marathon, and others;
- Data on indie hits and noteworthy newcomers: Esoteric Ebb, Retro Rewind, Toxic Commando, Everwind, and others;
- The most anticipated April releases by number of wishlists: Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, Replaced, Pragmata, Vampire Crawlers, Mouse: P.I. for Hire, Road to Vostok, and others.
To assess sales, revenue, and other metrics, we traditionally relied not only on official data from developers and publishers but also on information from third-party sources. Among them are Steam charts and data from analytics companies like Gamalytic and Sensor Tower (VG Insights). All the numbers in the article cover the period from each game's release date to March 31, 2026.
Last month, 2227 new titles were released on Steam, which is 24.5% more compared to the same period in 2026. Of these, 340 are games with included profile features (cards, badges, etc.), which have surpassed a certain minimum threshold in revenue and user count.
Interestingly, the mark of 2227 titles is an all-time record for the number of releases in a single month in Steam's history. Usually, peaks occur in the fall, but this year we're seeing an anomalous number of newcomers in March. The new record already significantly surpasses the peak values of November 2025 (1984) and October 2024 (1818).
Eighty March releases earned over $100,000, and the gross revenue of 20 titles exceeded $1 million. Out of all March newcomers, 229 received more than 100 reviews, and 45 projects crossed the 1000 review mark. Overall, the month was rich in successful projects, especially from smaller studios.
Next, we will examine the metrics of the main new releases and supplement this information with data on the console market in Europe (GfK) and Japan (Famitsu).
