Any time I write a blog about what Genres that sell well on Steam I get responses that are like “The best thing you can do is just make what you know and love.”

On its face that sounds like such good advice. I really really want to believe that. But in my experience most developers are already doing that. Most indie developers don’t do market research and they make the game they are passionate about and really like. Unfortunately, the median indie game earns less than $5000. So this “make what is in your heart” advice doesn’t seem to be working out too well. 

I think part of the reason this “make what you know and love“ is so dangerous is that the most popular games that most people love are not the type of games that indies can make and market on Steam. 

I had this realization when I discovered this “best of” list from a very famous games journalist that I admire. Look at this list he posted on Twitter:

I am not trying to pick on Dan; if you read most journalist’s “best of lists” they will mostly be the same as his. Look: IGN’s is basically the same, so is Metacritic’s.

I counted it up Dan’s list and I played 80% of these games and I liked all of them! This is a good “Best of” list! If you asked me to make a game that I “knew and loved” it would probably come from this list.

However, after studying the Steam market for years, I can tell you that 90% of the games on the list are terrible games to make as an indie game developer who has a small team, a limited budget, and is trying to make a sustainable income so that you can quit your job or stay as a full-time indie. I am not even talking about having a hit game here.

In today’s column I specifically want to go through Dan Ryckert’s list and explain why the games on typical “best of” lists don’t work on Steam for indie game developers.

My goal is to change your perception about how the Steam marketplace and its fans are different. I will also show you lots of games that are not on Dan’s list that are very good genres on Steam that the press just doesn’t cover or are completely oblivious to. 

TL;DR 

  • I find most journalists and omnivorous players (like myself) play a lot of linear, content-heavy, story based games that work at AAA and AA scale but are extremely difficult to pull off at the indie scale.
  • On the other side of the coin I find there are lots of very profitable niches that people aren’t making games for. These genres are too niche and journalists don’t write about them. They don’t end up on “best ever” lists but Steam fans are EXTREMELY hungry for them and they are begging us to make more of these games for them.
  • If you stick to “what you know and love” you will miss out on these wonderful niches. 
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: The intention of this piece is to get you to see what is selling so you can reach the level of success you want. If you are just doing this as a hobby and don’t mind what you make that is OK! I applaud you for it. But if you don’t get many sales, you will at least understand the market dynamics.

I broke Dan’s list into categories because many of the games have the same problem and I don’t want to repeat myself. 

Most of the data from all of these came from this blog post about the most popular genres in 2022. 

Category 1: Require too much content

This category is the big one and knocks off most of the games on Dan’s list. Fans love these games because they are deep immersive environments that are beautiful. Unfortunately indies can’t make them. Most of the studios behind these games are AAA that hire dozens (even hundreds) of people to take a basic gameplay mechanic (like shooting) and then throw huge resources at generating content that most players run past or interact with for a few seconds. Players expect hours and hours of content and these games can satisfy them because of the huge art teams. Unfortunately we small indies do not have that luxury. We are scrappy which is why indies make so many procedural or roguelikes: it allows for content reuse. 

Many times you will see indie studios attempt to make linear, 3D, beautiful games, but they don’t have the resources to satisfy the gamers expectations. Either indies try to match the quantity of content which lowers the quality and fans complain about “jank” or “yet another low quality indie game” or indies try to match the quality of AAA and produce a beautiful game but it’s only 1 hour long and took the team 5 years to make. In this case the fans say “too short.”

That is why these games don’t work.  

Maybe in our AI future we can use some computer brain to generate piles of beautiful content for us that can satisfy the demands of gamers, but for now, as indies, we just don’t have the people-power, money, or resources to make content that a player is going to run by in 5 seconds and never see again.

  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  • Metal Gear Solid
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
  • The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
  • Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots
  • Red Dead Redemption
  • Metroid Prime
  • The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
  • Perfect Dark
  • Hitman 2
  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
  • Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
  • Shenmue
  • Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Kind of Work, Last Spell)
  • Shadow of the Colossus
  • Bioshock
  • The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap (Maybe)
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
  • Gears of War 2
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
  • Halo 3 (See also post game updating)
  • Death Stranding

A few exceptions are Tunic (which did take YEARS for the developer to complete). This is rare. 

Category 2: Require too much content and precision controls

The following games are linear games like Category 1 but ALSO have incredibly precise controls. A lot of indie studios try to make Souls-likes but their reviews are almost always lackluster because fans complain about “janky controls.” Even if you are a scrappy indie team with tons of heart and love for the genre, the fans only care about Swiss-watch level precision. Souls fans are used to the quality set by some of the best game-play programmers in the world who have spent decades learning how to do this. Do you? If you can’t match that quality, fans will downvote you.

  • Elden Ring
  • Devil May Cry 3
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • God of War 2

Category 3: Platformers

Steam shoppers just don’t like platformers and indie game developers over produce them and gamers underplay them. You will notice that 66% of the platformers in this list are Mario games. The others are also console games. Most people don’t like platformers, they like Mario games. Did your indie studio get the IP for Mario? The other platformers all came from the world of consoles. Most people forget that the Steam fan base largely came from the PC world and don’t have experience with consoles. 

  • Super Mario World
  • Super Mario Bros. 3
  • Super Mario Galaxy 2
  • Super Mario Odyssey
  • Super Mario Galaxy
  • Super Mario 64
  • Super Mario Maker
  • Super Mario Bros. 2
  • Super Mario Sunshine
  • Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
  • Super Mario 3D World: Bowser’s Fury
  • Super Mario Bros
  • Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest
  • Mega Man 2 (Maybe work)
  • Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
  • Quackshot: A Donald Duck 
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2


But what about Celeste? I know I know. But look at this chart that I made for the 2022 genre analysis. There are way too many platformers and very very few developers are making money from them.

Category 4: Fighting Games

Steam shoppers just don’t like fighting games, especially ones designed by indie game developers. My hunch is that fighting games require a ton of time to learn and perfect. Small, fly-by-night indie game developers cannot command the same lasting power and popularity to make an individual player want to dedicate the time learning the systems. If you note, most of the best fighting games are sequels. That is because they build their fanbase over decades of releases. Not many people played Street Fighter 1. Also fighting games are best when you are sitting next to your opponent. PC Gamers rarely play competitive games in person. Fighting games also fall under the Category 2 “precision controls” risk.

  • Soul Calibur
  • WWF No Mercy
  • Mortal Kombat 2
  • Punch-Outll (Wii)
  • Street Fighter IV
  • Super Street Fighter II Turbo
  • Tekken 3
  • Super Smash Bros. Melee  (Also IP)

Category 5: RTS

I would think that RTSs would be popular on Steam (they are complicated, strategic, multiplayer) but the genre just disappeared. I don’t know why:

  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Category 6: Party Game / Local Multiplayer

Steam shoppers play their games alone on gaming pc’s in their office or bedroom. Console games are played in the living room. This seems like a minor difference (why should the room in the house matter?) but Steam shoppers don’t usually have multiple controllers and they really don’t have friends over to gather around a computer and game. Therefore local coop games are very very hard to make work.

  • Mario Party 2
  • Wii Sports

This genre is very tough for indies but there are some successes such as Animal Party has! Pumel Party. I find success in this category tends to be high risk high reward. If a game does well it does REALLY well.

Category 7: Car Combat

Racing games are somewhat popular on Steam but they tend to be very deep simulation racing games. For whatever reason combat car games just don’t do well.

  • Twisted Metal 2: World Tour

Category 8: Run and Gun / SHMUPS / TWIN STICK SHOOTERS

These shooting style games are among the worst performing genres on Steam. My theory is because most of these games have a history in Arcades and Consoles and require twitch reflexes. PC games have always been slower and more strategic. They also mostly prefer mouse and keyboard and these games usually use game pads.

  • Contra Hard Corps
  • Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

Category 9: Puzzle Games

I feel bad always bagging on Puzzle games but they just don’t sell well on Steam. I think it is because indie developers must rely on so much visibility coming from Streamers. Streamers just don’t like to play puzzle games because they can get stuck and look dumb and the lively mood on stream grinds to a halt and viewers start back-seat-gaming (which Streamers HATE!) 

  • Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
  • Picross 3D: Round Two
  • Tetris Effect
  • Portal 2

Category 10: Rhythm Games

I think Rhythm games are too twitchy for Steam and this genre isn’t very popular. Also most music games rely on licensed music which brings us to Category 11.

  • Gitaroo Man

Ya but what about Trombone Champ? Yes yes, but this is a one off viral hit. I think. There are a couple older PC Rhythm games like the Beat Hazard Series. It is still very tricky.

Category 11: Rely on IP

We indies don’t have many resources. We don’t have clout. Nobody trusts us because we are basically hanging by a thread at all times. So rarely will a company entrust us with their Intellectual Property (IP.) I think indies often get blinded by their own spartan approach to game design. We know too much. We try to break things down to their core gameplay elements and assume that gamers like a game because of the combination of gameplay mechanics. But, in reality most gamers just like the IP and they don’t care what the game is. For instance sports fans love their team. They also are notorious for not caring that you made an artisanally crafted sports game. It doesn’t matter if you made a basketball game with better controls, if someone can’t play as Steph Curry, they are going to ignore your game.

  • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Side note, Mario Kart stands on its own as a fun game, but note that there really are no other popular Kart Racing games).
  • Mario Kart: Double Dash
  • Rock Band 2 (see also Category 10: rhythm)
  • NBA Jam: Tournament Edition
  • NBA Street Vol. 2
  • WCW/NWO Revenge
  • Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball
  • NFL Blitz

Category 12: Other

I couldn’t figure out how to classify these games because each one is so unique and there are no other games like them. Many other developers have tried to replicate their success but they all fail. My thought is these games are all discrete experiences without competition. I gave my reasons in italics after each.

  • WarioWare, Inc: Mega MicrogameS – Steam shoppers don’t really like simple arcade games with twitch reflexes. This is all twitch. (it is one of my favorite games of all time though)
  • Journey – Yes this is an indie game but it is by one of the most original creators of all time. Also there is nothing else like it in history and is a genre unto itself. It is kind of a platformer though. Also this studio had official exclusive publishing rights from Sony. Does your studio have that?
  • Katamari Damacy – This is just its own thing. Possible exception is Donut County but still, nothing like it. 
  • Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! – There are many imitators but I think this is a genre unto itself. 
  • Star Fox 64 – The “on rails” shooter is a Nintendo only thing. It only succeeds on a Nintendo console. Yes I have played Panzer Dragoon Orta and Sin and Punishment but those are hilariously obscure and are more similar to SHMUPs. Star Fox is pretty much the only contender. 
  • Astro’s Playroom – This is an extremely clever tech demo for a controller for the biggest game hardware manufacturer in the world. You cannot match these conditions to make something like this. 

Category 13: Require Constantly Updated post game support

I have studied big indie multiplayer games and they basically have 4 results. 1) Nobody plays them so there are never enough players to fill a server so the game fails. 2) At launch, people play it but the game gets bogged down with hackers and cheaters running aimbots so the honest fans get mad and leave and the servers are empty and the game eventually fails. 3) There aren’t enough updates and the fans get mad and leave and the game eventually fails. 4) It is a hit and the game succeeds. However, option #4 rarely happens. It is very very very hard for indie competitive multiplayer games to succeed. 

  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
  • Fortnite

Ok Dan’s list did have a couple games that actually do work and are somewhat viable.

Sports / Racing

This section is a “maybe” as far as popularity goes. Hyper realistic racing games actually do ok on Steam. Also stylistic racing games do well like The Art of Rally. So I actually think these types of games do ok. They are still risky because your graphics must be TOP NOTCH, but they might just work.

  • SSX Tricky
  • Burnout 3: Takedown

Maybe

The games in this section kind of work. It is kinda risky and many of these games can get hurt by the content problem. But let me mention it.

  • Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 – This game succeeded because of the IP and the amazing gameplay. However I know of a couple games like SkateBIRD that did ok and had a lot of the THPS gameplay DNA in it. However, some players did complain about SkateBIRD’s controls which is the risk with this genre. You must have PERFECT controls (See Category 2). 
  • Goldeneye 007 – This is an FPS which can fall to the “not enough”  content trap or if it has multiplayer the “Constant updates post support” category, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Agent64 which is getting a lot of attention. 
  • Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Remake, Resident Evil 2 Remake – I put these on maybe because Horror games do really well on Steam. In my analysis of the top 500 games of 2022, I found more horror games than any other genre. The Resident Evil games are not exactly horror but they are the closest thing on Dan’s list. Note however, that most Steam horror games are first person shooters and RE is all third person. Also RE games require a ton of content so are subject to Category 1 complaints. 
  • Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction – I actually don’t know this game or genre well enough. But 3rd person shooters are kind of popular on PC (which is why I put it here.) Extraction shooters MIGHT be similar to this game and share some DNA which is why I put it under maybe. 

Genres From Dan’s list that actually do work

So here we are, these are the games that Dan listed that I actually think indies could make and find a bit of an audience. Most of these were in fact made by indie teams. 

  • Stardew Valley – Farming simulator / dating simulators are huge!
  • Vampire Survivors – I have written about how popular Bullet Heavens are and how they remain popular.  People love Survivor-likes. 
  • Hades – Roguelikes are huge on Steam. 
  • Outer Wilds – Open world, exploration games are huge.
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Social, crafting, collecting, wholesome games are huge on Steam
  • Dead Cells – Roguelike. Platformers make them risky but Roguelike is still huge.
  • Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – Metroidvanias do well on steam but you need really really good graphics. I consider Metroidvania the highest risk of the viable genres. 
  • Super Metroid – Metroidvania
  • Metroid Dread – Metroidvania

Missing from his list

I don’t like to leave these blogs on a negative note. It seems like I am saying every type of game fails on Steam. However, there are plenty of genres on Steam that a small indie team can make that do quite well. 

These popular genres are just very very niche and the press just ignores them. Journalists typically don’t put these games on their “best of” lists, these games don’t do well on Twitter but they are extremely popular with the hard core Steam audience. 

It wasn’t until I spent a lot of time studying the market that I found these niches. Which is why I am telling you about them. If you just rely on journalists for your market research you will miss some highly profitable genres.

  • City builder – He didn’t even have SimCity on his list!
  • Open world survival craft – Big genre (Outerwilds is kind of like this but not quite).
  • 4X -Dan didn’t even mention civilization which is not on consoles. ONLY PC.
  • Simulation – No Playway style sim or EuroTruck simulator.
  • Strategy in general – No hex-based, turn based, strategy games on Dan’s list but these are huge.
  • Visual Novel – Small, but very dedicated audience. Most main-stream  journalists never cover these.
  • Indie Horror – Similar to Resident Evil but there are so many types of horror games that can be made by just 1 person. See this blog post about secretly popular genres
  • Factorio automation games – Very deep, very complex game but very sought after by Steam players. 
  • Colony Sims – Similar to Factorio-likes. Super super deep and popular. 
  • Turn based games in general – Look at tactical strategy games like XCOM. 
  • Sand boxy janky games (example: Surgeon Simulator, TABS) – Hilarious for streamers. They get so much coverage and so many sales if they are funny enough. 
  • Extraction shooters – New genre that is a sub-sub-sub genre. Look up my writing on the success of  Zero Sievert and See this blog post about secretly popular genres
  • Management Sims  (Cook Serve Delicious) – This is usually a wholesome genre but these time management quasi simulators are quite popular if you pick a good theme. 

Summary

It is weird but I find most indie game developers are big Nintendo fans (I know I am). There is something about that company that inspires the dreamers and the creatives of the world (you and me) to make art (I know I did.) However, most Steam players do not come from that console/Nintendo legacy. They come from a PC background. They love deep strategy, sandbox, customization. 

This disconnect between the dreamers and creatives (who come from Nintendo) and the Steam players and consumers (who come from PC) is one of the biggest reasons I think most indies don’t do well. This is also why I don’t think the advice of “just make what you love in your heart and don’t do research” fails so many indie game developers. 

I am not saying you have to sell your soul and just make products you don’t care about, my advice is study and play these niche games. You might realize you actually have a new favorite genre. Now you can make a game you know and love and actually live to make a second and third game and not have to go get a contract job with Electronic Arts or go back to your accounting job.

Or if you don’t care about money because you have a rich dad, or you get arts funding, or you just do this part time, or something you can make whatever you want.