A recent analysis of the gaming industry on Steam found that a minimal portion of titles are responsible for the vast majority of revenue. The study, conducted by Sulka Haro, CEO and co-founder of Mainframe Industries, focused on 53,597 launches of the platform, covering the period from July 2023 to July 2026.
Although the research initially sought to compare games with and without artificial intelligence (AI), a specific number stood out: approximately 1% of the most visible games absorb around 94% of the platform’s entire estimated revenue. This scenario, although with the exception of a sample that may present deviations, highlights how fierce the competition is and the challenge that smaller developers face in standing out.
The level of competitiveness becomes even more evident when observing that just the ten most profitable titles together correspond to approximately 62% of all revenue. This high concentration shows a very unequal distribution of profits in the gaming market.
The research detailed that the majority of games, even those that receive some user reviews, generate an average revenue of around US$300. Furthermore, approximately 28% of released titles do not receive any reviews, which makes measuring their sales unfeasible.
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New perspectives on artificial intelligence in games
Since January 2024, Valve, the company responsible for Steam, has required game producers to report on the use of AI-generated content on their product pages. This measure aims to bring more transparency to consumers and the market.
For the study, author Sulka Haro recorded the presence of the “AI-Generated Content Disclosure” section on each store page, the date it first appeared, a revenue estimate, and the exact text provided by the developers.
Initial data revealed that revenue linked to AI games fluctuates considerably from quarter to quarter. This is not due to a generalized trend of AI success, but rather due to the performance of one or two specific titles that manage to perform well.
The mere increase in the number of AI games released does not significantly change the overall picture. However, the success of a single title that incorporates artificial intelligence could completely change the scenario, despite the fact that 87% of games that use AI do not achieve commercial relevance.
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How artificial intelligence is used in games
Information released about the use of AI indicates that its most common application is in the creation of visual elements. Interestingly, this concentration is even greater in games that are not successful: 72% of failed titles with AI mention the use of art, images or textures generated by this technology.
In contrast, successful games tend to take a more multifaceted, market-oriented approach. They are three times more likely to disclose the use of AI in areas such as voice and location, as well as a greater inclination to apply it to text and music.
This suggests that the typical AI game that doesn’t thrive commercially is often limited to artistic features produced by artificial intelligence, without major innovations on other fronts.
Another point to be highlighted is that successful games demonstrate a more prudent and reassuring stance when communicating the use of AI. Around 59% of them use terms that mitigate the role of technology, such as “assistance”, “auxiliary” or “supplementary”.
Additionally, 21% of these productions include guarantees of human oversight, with phrases like “manually reviewed and refined.” The higher the expectations regarding the game, the more careful the language used in the disclosure, including standard AAA game expressions, such as “Generative AI may have been used…”, or even explicit denials, such as “We do NOT use AI-generated art”.
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Future projections for AI games
The study projects that, if the current trend continues, the number of games with a declaration of use of AI will surpass the 50% mark of all launches on Steam at some point between 2027 and 2028.
However, the research highlights that “extrapolating data is not predicting the future”, indicating that these projections should be viewed with caution.
By analyzing when information about the use of AI was first added to game pages, the author found that 22% of AI titles that generated significant revenue only included the warning after launch. This discovery was made through the use of the Wayback Machine.
These retroactive additions to the notices were primarily focused around Valve’s January 2026 policy reset. This suggests expected behavior in a compliance check action, with developers updating their pages to follow the new rules.
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Consequently, part of the increase in the total number of games flagged in 2026 can be attributed to the reclassification of titles already in the catalog, and not just the launch of new productions with AI.
It’s important to consider that the study covers titles since 2023, but Steam’s AI disclosure mechanism was only implemented in January 2024. This means that, before that date, communication about the use of AI was not only low, but technically unfeasible.
The first groups of games submitted under the new regulations began to appear in February 2024. By 2026, approximately one in three new releases on Steam already had an authentic AI disclosure at the time of submission.
Finally, while non-AI releases saw a modest increase from about 1,030 to approximately 1,320 per month, titles declaring the use of AI grew exponentially, jumping from about 13 to approximately 530 per month before the declaration requirement.