Episode 61 - Basically too many games - Jon Shafer

Shams and Fernando bring on their buddy Jon Shafer (former Lead Designer on Civ V) from Conifer Games to cut through the noise and break down the actual state of PC gaming post-Steam Next Fest!

Spoiler alert: that 2010s indie golden age everyone misses? It’s dead and buried.

Jon’s been obsessively tracking Steam data (while juggling his double PC setup optimized for Steam demos), and the new reality is, well to be honest, brutal.

To survive today, developers either need to pump out a game in two months or bleed over it for up to 14 years - there is zero in-between. Welcome to the "go short or go long" meta.

The trio also look into the wildest trends currently hijacking the platform such as the unapologetic explosions of co-op "friend slop," the massive wave of players jumping between Roblox and Steam, and why traditional buying habits are out while cult-level fandom is in.

In short - the dev scene might be an absolute bloodbath right now, but for players? We might just be sitting in a brand-new golden age.

Thanks for listening!

The BBC article
Designer Notes Podcast