The GameDiscoverCo Show

We talk about how PC game hardware increases might also stretch the game biz in similar ways to console, discuss how Xbox and PlayStation are in some ways getting 'less multiplatform' - or at least signaling that they are. And we also look at some great points from Arrowhead's CEO and chat about August's top new PC & console games.
Join Simon Carless & Chris Plante in the latest GameDiscoverCo Show as they look at these questions and more. Mentioned in this episode:

We often reference console hardware price hikes, but how about PC? PC Gamer helps us understand: “Before the memory crisis, there was quite an abundance of RTX 5060 gaming PCs… [as low as] $749… these days you're looking at almost $1,000 for the same thing, and that's if you're lucky.” (PCs can be upgraded more modularly, but..) https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/gaming-pcs/ive-checked-gaming-pc-deals-every-week-for-two-years-and-im-not-exaggerating-when-i-say-there-isnt-a-single-well-priced-pc-left/

Two story combo on companies getting 'less multiplatform': After signaling it would, Xbox is cutting out other platforms from trailers on the Xbox YouTube channel, with no mentions of the non-Xbox SKUs for Minecraft Dungeons II: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2026/08/xbox-heard-you-purges-ps5-logos-from-multiformat-game-trailers + PlayStation’s latest State Of Play streaming showcase had a reveal or two, and lots of third-party multiplatform games. But it was mainly interesting re: showing first-party titles/DLC (Marvel’s Wolverine, Gran Turismo 7, Until Dawn 2, Saros, Ghost of Yotei) that we suspect won’t be on PC or Steam soon: https://thisweekinvideogames.com/news/playstation-state-of-play-september-2026-all-the-announcements-and-trailers/

Some smart points in this interview with Arrowhead (Helldivers 2) CEO Shams Jorjani. #1: “The only thing that really, really mitigates risk… is brand and recognisability.” #2: for new games, even as a bigger studio, they’ll be “putting it in the hands of players right away - as soon as possible.” https://www.gamesindustry.biz/the-things-that-we-based-our-assumptions-on-have-changed-fundamentally-arrowhead-ceo-shams-jorjani-on-the-games-industrys-rapid-transformation

August's top new PC/console games revealed by GameDiscoverCo - https://newsletter.gamediscover.co/i/213900042/aug-2026s-top-new-pcconsole-games-revealed - 'The 2x million sellers? Less expensive friendslop-adjacents: the absolute smash, albeit at USD $5-$7, was the Landfall-backed ‘fish & then shoot ‘em’ How To Fish, which we have at >6.3m units (!) And the $15-$20 linear co-op hit Big Walk, which we talked about, we’ve got at >1.6m on Steam alone in August. (Not bad.)' (And lots more info...)

Also discussed: last week and this week's new Steam releases, and Chris' surprise question of the week for Simon.

We talk about Valve's 30 year anniversary and the inexorable (?) rise of Steam as a platform, ruminate on Battle.net getting more third-party game additions with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunter - Remastered, examine a change to more personalized midweek deals on Steam, and discuss how hit PC game genres have changed since 2021, according to a GDCo analysis of tags for popular new games.

Join Simon Carless & Chris Plante in the latest GameDiscoverCo Show as they look at these questions and more. Mentioned in this episode:

As Geoff Keighley reminds us, “Valve was founded 30 years ago today [on August 24th, 1996] by Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington.” Tom's Hardware has more on the history, spanning Half-Life and sequels, the Source Engine, and - of course - a little PC gaming platform called Steam. (Congrats!) https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/valve-was-founded-30-years-ago-today-changed-pc-gaming-forever-with-half-life-then-steam

About that ‘Battle.net getting more third-party games’ rumor? Blizzard just announced a collab with CD Projekt to bring The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered to the PC platform, as well as “gain access to a Geralt-themed skin in Diablo IV” if you buy it on there. (It’s like the ‘Fortnite skins’ move on EGS…) https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/article/24296229/cd-projekt-red-teams-up-with-blizzard-entertainment

Steam is testing personalization on normally curated Midweek Deals, which “are featured on the Steam homepage… from Monday at 10am Pacific until Thursday at 10am Pacific. There are up to six Midweek slots per week.” (If you’re logged in, you’ll see a wide selection of discounted games this week, largely different per account.)

How have hit PC genres changed since 2021? Look, the PC game market has changed significantly over the last 5 years. But how can we quantify that? At GameDiscoverCo, we have a lot of underlying data on this, so we thought we’d use ‘purified’ versions of Steam tag clouds to compare the market in 2021 to that of 2025: https://newsletter.gamediscover.co/i/212562145/how-have-hit-pc-genres-changed-since-2021

Also discussed: last week and this week's new Steam releases, and Chris' surprise question of the week for Simon.

We talk about changes for GDC 2027 (and the history of the event), why pre-orders and Advance Access for many games seem increasingly to be 'pay to get access early', why some PlayStation 'shovelware'-adjacent publishers are being kicked off (and then re-instated!) on the platform, and discuss Big Walk's success and the future of the 'co-op only' game genre. 

Join Simon Carless & Chris Plante in the latest GameDiscoverCo Show as they look at these questions and more. Mentioned in this episode: 

- GDC has announced its format updates for the March 1st-5th 2027 show, and this r/gamedev post sums up the changes: “Festival hall is moving from Wed-Fri to Tues-Thur… Summits are more community driven… [The return of the] Friday career day… ” (There’s also “a new Business Hall at Moscone West” for focused biz meetings.) - https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1vnl4td/gdc_2027_announces_changes_to_format_targeting/

- Last week’s big release Mortal Shell II recently hit Advance Access and, thanks to a donated key to SteamDB, we can already see its CCU (23k!) But we also wanted to claim that ‘+$10 to play early and support the dev’ is the real reason people fork out $60 for the ‘Devout Edition.’ (The ‘Obsidian skin set’ ain’t worth $10 - but there’s also nothing wrong with monetizing this kind of early FOMO, is there?) (+ RELATED: Looking at global real-time top sellers on Steam, the top 2 positions are for Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 4 & Wardogs, both prominent shooters doing ‘pre-order for access to the Beta’ promotions.)

- PlayStation kicking off ‘shovelware’ publishers got controversial in targeting Ternox Games & STONKS-9800, since the stock market sim has sold decently on Steam: “Sony unilaterally terminated my PlayStation developer and publisher agreement without giving me any reason.” (Ternox previously put out ‘easy Platinum’-ish games, tho, but Stonks is legit/decent. But.. it’s Sony’s platform to clean up!) - https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/indie-developer-of-popular-stock-market-game-says-sony-is-blocking-a-ps5-release-and-delisting-its-previous-games/ [EDIT: they've been let back on again, as of last Friday!]

- Will Big Walk's 1m+ sales usher in a co-op first era - https://newsletter.gamediscover.co/i/212026664/will-big-walks-1m-usher-in-a-co-op-only-game-era - "I don’t understand why more dev teams haven’t been exploring ‘co-op only’ experiences. The precedent is there: Hazelight Studios has made a career over exclusively co-op titles and has sold tens of millions of units: A Way Out, It Takes Two, and Split Fiction. The curiously under-the-radar We Were Here series, which we’ve profiled before for GDCo, is also a multi-million seller, blending co-op only puzzle & exploration. Even the micro-indie horror series Fears To Fathom made a co-op only iteration, Fears To Fathom: Scratch Creek which has been doing great on Twitch and has sold ~300k copies, according to GDCo estimates."

- Also discussed: last week and this week's new Steam releases, and Chris' surprise question of the week for Simon.

We talk about Helldivers 2 finally making it onto Sony's console subscription service, the state of paid mods/UGC in 2026, how AI interfaces may (or may not!) change how people pick out their media, and discuss which game showcase might be right for devs.

Join Simon Carless & Chris Plante in the latest GameDiscoverCo Show as they look at these questions and more. Mentioned in this episode:

- PlayStation just surprise dropped Helldivers 2 onto PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, about 2 and a half years after its OG debut.  https://blog.playstation.com/2026/08/12/helldivers-2-joins-playstation-plus-game-catalog-today-devoid-of-liberty-update-out-now/

- Paid mods? Mod.io is making a bigger push into the space, with PC/console games like BMX Streets claiming a $10 ARPPU. (There’s also been The Sims’ move into paid UGC and Curseforge’s previous work with ARK, tho hardcore community reactions can still be mixed at times?) https://mod.io/blog/2026-half-year-update-marketplace-going-live

- Another vital (partially paywalled) Doug Shapiro mega-trends piece is on why “in recent years, almost all the value created in media has accrued to those who distribute content, not create or package it”, but “AI may partially uncouple distribution and coordination in media by introducing a new intermediary layer.” - https://dougshapiro.substack.com/p/coordination-is-king

- Discussing our game showcases overview data - https://newsletter.gamediscover.co/i/210617721/5-key-things-to-ask-before-putting-your-game-in-a-showcase - so we talk about which showcases are the most popular, key things to ask before putting your game in there, etc...

- Also discussed: last week and this week's new Steam releases, and Chris' surprise question of the week for Simon.

We talk about Roblox's market-disappointing financial results, how to think about Steam 1.0 releases vs. Early Access, Shigeru Miyamoto's recent comments on console tech specs being less relevant, and get into Simon's 30 years (!) in the game biz.

Join Simon Carless & Chris Plante in the latest GameDiscoverCo Show as they look at these questions and more. Mentioned in this episode:

- Roblox’s results late last week weren’t stellar for the platform, as “daily active users (DAUs) fell 7% sequentially to 123 million in the second quarter:  https://srnnews.com/roblox-forecasts-quarterly-bookings-below-estimates-as-safety-features-dampen-engagement/ 

- Steam 1.0 watch: survival sandbox-er Scrap Mechanic hit 38k CCU (its highest for 6 years!) at 1.0, and 3 million LTD units since 2016; cozy farm sim Fields Of Mistria just hit 27k CCU (all-time high!) at 1.0; first-person sim Waterpark Simulator (13k CCU) and action roguelite Sephiria (30k CCU) are also having super-strong 1.0s. 

- A new interview with Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto has him saying: “I was happy that the Switch lasted for 8 to 9 years. I think that customers are no longer just looking for specs. I think the ideal is that ‘if you buy the software, you can play it on the device you have at home.’”   https://nintendoeverything.com/shigeru-miyamoto-believes-that-people-are-no-longer-just-looking-for-specs-with-gaming-systems/ 

- What Simon has learned from 30 years in games, looking at a dinosaur-based evolution model (lol!) across three different stages of growth: https://newsletter.gamediscover.co/i/210082715/game-discovery-lessons-from-30-years-in-biz