Valve is back with its Top 20 releases on Steam, and in June, the picture shows us two things as the summer dawns on PC gaming: Studios making their steam debuts had a good month, and games coming out of Early Access enjoyed the sun as well.
According to a Valve spokesperson, about half of June’s top releases are from studios releasing their first game on Steam, and the list has seven games coming out of the platform’s Early Access program, in which developers sells games before they are finished, collecting feedback to improve their projects and revenue to keep them alive. PC gaming is a $35.7 billion market, research firm Newzoo reported in June, and Steam is the most dominant platform in the industry.
Steam also shared its top free-to-play releases as well, and as you can see, several games appear on multiple lists — especially when it comes to free games and top releases.
One thing that stands out — the list doesn’t have any triple-A releases. Last year, June’s top games includes Jurassic World: Evolution (a theme park management sim), Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, and The Crew 2. It also saw to big double-A releases in Vampyr and Warhammer 40,000: Insquisitor — Martyr.
With Dead Toast’s My Friend Pedro selling more than 250,000 copies in its first week, it’s no surprise to see the Devolver Digital-published sidescrolling shooter on the list.
Steam’s Top 20 releases for June
Steam’s first-timers
- Barotrauma
- Cooking Sim
- SpaceEngine
- Bloodstained
- My Friend Pedro
- Super Neptunia
- Hardcore Mecha
- Nine Trials
- Wasteland Survival
- Ring of Elysium
- Lords Mobile
Steam’s top free-to-play releases
A few interesting tidbits from Valve:
- Pro Cycling Manager 2019 has always sold well in Western Europe, and the Tour De France starting a few days after release likely helped buoy sales.
- The company’s happy to see an education exploration game, SpaceEngine, on the list. It may have benefited from the numerous celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing.
July tends to be one of the slowest months of the year for triple-A releases, but with a lot of interesting indie games in the works, it’ll be interesting to see what stands out in next month’s report.
