Indie games get nearly half their Steam reviews after year one

Among 1,312 paid indie games released on Steam from 2020 to 2022 with at least 100 first-year reviews, the median game had 47% of its Steam reviews through August 2026 written after its first year.

If your game is past its first year and you want to know whether anyone is still coming, this is what the long tail usually looks like, what predicts it, and what to do with yours.

The first year is only about half the story

For each game we read Steam’s review history: monthly counts of reviews from people who bought the game on Steam, by the date each review was written. By August 2026 these games were between three years eight months and six years eight months old.

The older the game, the more of its reviews came later. For the 477 released in 2020, the median was 54%, and 272 of them had more than half their reviews after year one. For the 402 released in 2022, it was 41%.

To compare games of different ages, take only their first three years. Years two and three together added a median 54% of year one’s reviews: 31% in year two and 22% in year three. For 235 games, 18%, those two years matched or beat the first.

Launch still matters most. The first two calendar months held half of the median game’s first-year reviews. After that the pace doesn’t stop. It flattens.

0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%10203040

Series	X	Value
Median game	1	12.8%
Median game	2	7.4%
Median game	3	5.6%
Median game	4	4.8%
Median game	5	4.0%
Median game	6	3.8%
Median game	7	3.5%
Median game	8	3.3%
Median game	9	3.3%
Median game	10	3.1%
Median game	11	2.9%
Median game	12	2.8%
Median game	13	2.7%
Median game	14	2.5%
Median game	15	2.6%
Median game	16	2.5%
Median game	17	2.3%
Median game	18	2.3%
Median game	19	2.2%
Median game	20	2.2%
Median game	21	2.0%
Median game	22	2.0%
Median game	23	2.0%
Median game	24	2.0%
Median game	25	1.9%
Median game	26	1.8%
Median game	27	1.8%
Median game	28	1.8%
Median game	29	1.7%
Median game	30	1.7%
Median game	31	1.6%
Median game	32	1.6%
Median game	33	1.7%
Median game	34	1.6%
Median game	35	1.5%
Median game	36	1.6%
Median game	37	1.5%
Median game	38	1.5%
Median game	39	1.5%
Median game	40	1.5%
Median game	41	1.4%
Median game	42	1.3%
Median game	43	1.4%
Median game	44	1.3%

Paid games tagged Indie, released on Steam 2020 to 2022, with 100+ reviews in their first year. Month 0, the partial launch month, is left out (32.4%). Review histories read September 16, 2026.

In month 12 the median game drew 2.8% of its first-year reviews, in month 24 2.0%, and in month 36 1.6%. Over the 12 months to August 2026, 1,297 of the 1,312 games got at least one new review, and 1,074 (82%) averaged one a month or more.

Better-reviewed games keep more of their pace

The review score was the clearest dividing line we found. For the 905 games at 80% positive or better, years two and three added a median 61% of year one’s reviews. For the 407 below 80%, they added 38%.

1. 95% or better (239 games)65%
2. 90 to 94% (294 games)62%
3. 80 to 89% (372 games)56%
4. 70 to 79% (223 games)43%
5. Under 70% (184 games)33%

1,312 paid indie games released on Steam 2020 to 2022 with 100+ first-year reviews. Scores count reviews in all languages from Steam purchases, read September 16, 2026.

Over the past year, 808 of the 905 games at 80% or better averaged at least a review a month (89%), against 266 of the 407 below it (65%).

The score was read this month, not at launch, so we can’t say which way the link runs. GameDiscoverCo has suggested that 80%, Steam’s “Very Positive” line, is where buyers start second-guessing a purchase.

Late peaks are rare, and they belong to well-liked games. 69 of the 1,312 (5%) had a busier month after year one than any month in it, a median 35 months after launch. 60 of those 69 were rated 80% or better. That was 22 of the 239 games at 95% or better, and 1 of the 184 under 70%.

Months with a Major Update post drew more reviews

A Major Update post shows in players’ libraries, in the news feeds of owners and followers, and on the game’s store page. Paired with an update visibility round, it also reaches the Steam store’s front page for people who own or wishlisted the game.

We matched every post these games made on Steam against their monthly reviews after year one. Each month was compared with the game’s previous three months, where those months averaged at least two reviews and had no Regular or Major Update post.

In the 520 months with a Major Update post, from 311 games, the median month drew 1.38 times the game’s previous pace, and 30% of those months at least doubled it. In months with no posts at all, the median was 0.86 times, and 7% doubled. Months with only patch notes came in at 0.98.

Steam’s seasonal sales land in the same month for every game, so we also compared games within each month. In each of the 16 calendar months with at least 10 of both kinds, update months beat quiet months, by a median 1.78 times.

The late peaks point the same way: 23 of the 69 came in a month with a Regular or Major Update post, or the month after one. Across all months after year one, only 5% did.

That is a match in timing, not proof of cause. An update may ship alongside a discount this data can’t see, and some of the new reviews may come from owners returning rather than new buyers.

When chasing the long tail is the wrong move

Reviews are not revenue. GameDiscoverCo, working with Gamalytic’s data, found that games discounted heavily get fewer reviews per copy sold. If your tail sells mostly on discount, it may hold more copies than its reviews suggest, each earning less.

The tail is small in absolute terms. The median first year brought 316 reviews, and the median for the 12 months to August 2026 was 48. An update has to be worth its cost at that pace.

Lower-rated games have the thinnest tails. Under 70% positive, the median game’s past year drew 6% of its first-year reviews. If players didn’t like the game, an update that adds more of the same is unlikely to change that.

And some games are finished. A game that told its story, found its players and still collects a review a month has done its job. Leaving it alone is a decision, not a failure.

What to do with a game past its first year

1. Read your own curve. The monthly counts we used are public for any game at store.steampowered.com/appreviewhistogram/ followed by its app ID. Compare your second year with your first: the median here was 31%, and the top quarter was 47% or more.
2. Treat a steady tail as evidence. A game still drawing reviews every month in its fourth year has an audience you can build for, and one a partner can weigh.
3. Plan updates around Steam’s tools. Each game starts with five update visibility rounds, each running up to 30 days or 1 million front-page impressions, and they typically don’t show during major seasonal sales. A discount of 20% or more can notify the game’s wishlisters, and outside seasonal sales, discounts need 30 days between them.
4. If you can’t do the work, someone else can. A Steam game’s reviews, wishlists and players stay with it when it changes hands, and some partners fund what comes next. Strike Two is one, so weigh this with that in mind.

How we measured it

On September 16, 2026, Steam’s US store search returned 98,659 games for the Indie tag. We read the review history of the 6,760 released from 2018 through 2022 with at least 60 reviews in the search results.

The history comes from Steam’s review histogram endpoint. On six games drawn at random, its share of reviews after year one matched their individual Steam-purchase reviews within about a percentage point. Its totals ran 4% to 12% above today’s Steam-purchase review counts.

The 1,312 are the games released from 2020 through 2022 that weren’t free that day, had at least 100 reviews in their first 12 calendar months, and had no more than 5 before their release month.

That last rule leaves out 590 games whose reviews began a median 14 months before their listed date, as happens when a game sells in Early Access first. A game still in Early Access is dated from its Early Access launch.

Games from 2018 and 2019 are left out of every figure above. Steam’s 2019 library update added new prompts asking players to review games, and Valve reported daily reviews rising from about 17,000 to 70,000.

Games launched before it had some or all of their first year at the old rate, so their later years look inflated. In the first three years of the 2018 games, a median 50% of reviews came after year one.

Review scores count reviews in all languages from Steam purchases. Update posts come from the store’s events feed, sorted by type codes Valve doesn’t document. Delisted games aren’t in the search, so games that disappeared are missing. And a review’s date isn’t its purchase date: some late reviews come from early buyers.