Game marketing expert Chris Zukowski investigated which genres produced the most "hits"—games with a thousand or more reviews*—on Steam during the first half of 2024.
Buckshot Roulette
- According to Zukowski's estimates, from January 1 to July 12, a total of 8,362 games were released on Steam. Of these, 232 projects received more than a thousand reviews.
- The leading genre is horror, which includes 20 "hits" released in the first half of 2024. For comparison, only 28 horrors received more than a thousand reviews on Steam for the entire year of 2023.
- Other top genres included survival games with crafting elements in open worlds (16 "hits"), adult games (nine "hits"), clickers (eight "hits"), simulators (seven "hits"), city-builders (seven "hits"), management games (seven "hits"), farm simulators (seven "hits"), and roguelike deckbuilders (four "hits").
- Also trending are 3D games with PlayStation 1 aesthetics and low-poly graphics, like Crow Country and Buckshot Roulette.
- Cooperative games are extremely popular on Steam. The co-op feature is available in 21% of all "hits" from the first half of 2024 on Steam, meaning 51 games.
- 2D platformers continue to sell poorly, while four new 3D platformers have already become "hits," including Little Kitty, Big City, and Rooftops & Alleys.
- Games similar to Vampire Survivors are experiencing a downturn. Only one new release from 2024, Deep Rock Galactic Survivor, managed to gather more than a thousand reviews.
*According to Zukowski, a thousand reviews is an almost arbitrary metric. He chose this number because a) most games on Steam do not reach this milestone, and b) it typically corresponds to a gross revenue of $300,000. When a game's revenue reaches this level, Valve begins to offer developers various promotional options to boost game recognition, such as pop-ups and daily deals.