It feels like everywhere you look in the games industry, things are getting more expensive. I used to remember a time when consoles used to lower in price as they got older, but now you have Microsoft eyeing up a potential third price increase for the Xbox Series X in less than 12 months. When you take that into account, it makes sense that gamers would start to look towards cheaper alternatives to keep their favorite hobby alive.
This could potentially be the reason why we’re starting to see an interest trend when it comes to the prices of Steam’s best-selling games. In a new research analysis newsletter by The GameDiscoverCo (thanks GamesRadar), research has been done on the first month of sales for the top 50 new, non-free-to-play Steam releases since February 2023, revealing that the average price of a Steam bestseller has remained fairly steady, dropping by just 2 percent between then and now.
Steam’s Best Games Are Getting Cheaper
However, the median price gives us a more interesting trend. According to this research, the median price of the Steam bestsellers list has dropped by a pretty massive 20 percent during the same time period. That can mean a few things, but the most important is that it’s pretty solid proof that there’s been “a notable increase in cheaper titles” on Steam in the past couple of years.
I Actually Cannot Believe How Cheap Hollow Knight: Silksong Will Be
Players would have happily paid more for the most anticipated game of the year.
It’s not too surprising either if you really think back on all the games that have really blown up in popularity over the past few years. Just this year, we saw Hollow Knight: Silksong break storefronts, which is priced at just $20, while the father of the “friendslop” genre, Peak, cost just over £6. Content Warning, Rusty’s Retirement, and Buckshot Roulette were all named by the report as contributing massively to the results, all of which launched in March 2024 for less than $10.
This report also points out that these cheaper titles are often peppered with massive $60 – $70 blockbusters that have brand power, and that pretty much everything in between the $20 – $50 bracket in an awkward position, barring a few exceptions like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It’s also argued that indie developers may have more difficulty charging more than $25 for their games, as they’ll more often than not be compared to the dirt cheap titles like Peak that have already offered memorable experiences.
It’s an interesting little look into pricing trends recently, and how the rising cost of living has likely affected our game spending habits. It also goes to show just how well the games industry can adapt to trying times, and that if more companies want to find success with their games, maybe they should start by lowering the prices they’re charging.
- Released
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September 4, 2025
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood
- Developer(s)
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Team Cherry
- Publisher(s)
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Team Cherry
