A fast look at Steam or itch.io exhibits how gaming storefronts are flooded with new video games as extra builders use generative AI, making it tougher than ever for indie devs with hand-crafted video games to face out. A current social media put up by itch.io revealed some new information highlighting simply how dangerous the state of affairs has develop into.
As a gaming web site and storefront, itch.io is positioned to be a really indie-friendly platform the place virtually anybody can promote or distribute the video games they’re engaged on. It is filled with student-made and recreation jam initiatives, however many higher-profile indies are additionally accessible by means of itch.io and sometimes given away in charity bundles. As a result of itch.io is already a really accessible and helpful platform for indie builders, the brand new information it is shared is all of the extra regarding.
Late on Oct. 31, itch.io took to Bluesky to disclose that the variety of recreation pages being created every day has doubled since Aug. 2026. In response to the graph shared, the variety of pages created per day was round 3,000 again then; now, that quantity is over 6,000 as of Oct. 30. Different replies from itch.io point out that AI initiatives make up the vast majority of these new pages too.
What does this imply for indie recreation builders?
If one have been to attempt to take a extra optimistic take a look at this information, they may argue that having extra video games listed on itch.io will trigger exponentially extra video games to be bought or downloaded. That is not what’s taking place. Whereas no graph for this information level was shared, itch.io confirmed in one other reply that “The variety of downloads and purchases has not doubled” since Aug. 2026.
Should you’re planning to distribute a recreation by means of itch.io within the close to future, that is all very regarding. An inflow of recent releases, lots of that are seemingly created with generative AI, flood the very platforms indie builders desperately want visibility on and do not carry any kind of viewers progress with them. Steam is equally crammed, with many Steam Subsequent Fest demos additionally being drowned out or stolen by AI-made competitors.
Except platforms like itch.io or Steam actually put their foot down and intently monitor and limit the discharge of generative AI-made content material on their platforms (itch.io already asks builders to reveal AI utilization), this can proceed to be an issue plaguing the online game business.