How it started (2023): "Mobile is broken, so we're pivoting to Steam now. "

How it's going (2025): "Here's the DATA! "

From 2022-2024: A LOT of game developers gave up on mobile, and started building for Steam / PC.

Over same 2 years, Annual Steam releases grew 58%.

12k (2022) 14k  ('23) 19k ('24)

Wild.

And, since 2024, the % of devs working on PC has grown another 20% (GDC '25 Survey).

All of this begs an obvious question...

Was Steam a better place to publish games in 2023/2024?

In other words, which platform, Steam or Mobile, had the higher success rate* for new products?

I wanted to find out!

So we analyzed  ~8000 game releases using data from AppMagic and Gamalytic.

And, I must say, I was shocked by the results!

If your goal was to make over $1M, Mobile releases fared better than Steam in 2024.

But I'm curious if this rings true for YOU

Are you seeing new product success on mobile that contradicts the 'mobile is dead' narrative?

Or, are you finding Steam publishing to be the salvation you were seeking?