Too Many Games - Why Can't You Find the Games You Want? - Extra Credits

The number of games coming out has hugely increased thanks to distribution platforms like Steam and the App Store, but storefronts have become a cluttered mess with inadequate search options.
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♪ Intro Music: "Penguin Cap" by CarboHydroM

♪ Outro Music: "Bogged Down" by Argle

[SuperSamStuff]

Somewhere out there, the makers of bakery story just shed a single tear

[MisterClassified]

Now, as of 2016, there is still one essential feature missing from Steam client. "Exclude by Tag".
Sometimes when searching for games, I just want to exclude all platformers, shoot'em'ups, anime, casual and RPGmaker games, because I just don't like those. However 99% of the query results only show these. And often I just quit searching and end up buying nothing.

[saddestsad]

Steam knows my hardware specs. It is on my computer. So why can't the steam browser tell me if my computer can run a game or not?

[rozharris]

2 years on, and the App Store search function still sucks...

[extrahistory]

We hear ya! So, a lot of folks have been using TasteKid to find "Games Like X." For those of you familiar with it, how do you like it? -Soraya

[thegamingram]

Another problem Steam has is that a number of "new-games" mis-lead us about their release date, some even flat out lie. Under "New Releases", some games say they came out... say, Today, but when you click on it, it says it was released 10 years ago.
Some will even still say they were released today on their own page, but a quick google search tells other-wise.

There is A LOT of shovelware / releases on the New Releases section of steam front page, but because there is no filter, it's a pain. And don't tell me it isn't possible, they have a filter to for DLC.

[CatGirlGamer]

This is really spot on. I find myself wading through games to find a certain style I'm interested in, only to give up for lack of better search filters.

[CatEngineDVD]

I keep being amazed by your uncanny ability to recognize an issue and dissect it to the exact components and sources.
Not to mention your sober explanations and reliable and reasonable solutions.
Best thing on youtube. You guys do a great job.

[kyrenity]

The Steam client needs some work on it; it could really benefit from tabs.

[soylentgreenb]

Gaming has a very long tail; like music. I didn't think I liked music when I was growing up; you turn on the radio and it's all shit; just terrible. Sure there was music I liked on the C64, but I wouldn't have thought about sitting down and listering to it without playing a game. It wasn't until internet access became free an ubiquitous (I went straight from 56k that you had to share with a phone line to 10/100 mbps fibre with no bandwidth cap in 1999). Suddenly I realized there was all this great music being made before I was born, and I could find it quite easily. And then, there was all this great music still being made, they just didn't highlight it on the radio.

I believe this is why people used to "get stuck in a decade". How many times have you met someone who only listens to 60's rock or 70's prog rock or whatever, and they're not interesting in anything else? Mainstream moved on, it didn't suit them so they just stayed.

There's even more weird little niches in gaming. It's even easier for people to get "stuck in a decade". Remember those SSI Gold box RPGs? Remember point and click adventure games like Monkey island? Remember classic shooters that didn't take themselves too seriously, with these big abstract, maze-like levels, tonnes of enemies and no f-ing cut scenes? Remember car combat games? Remember Dungeon keeper?

The mainstream doesn't, it has moved on. But those kinds of games are still being made, or at least attempted, by indie developers mainly. These long-tail games serve a fairly small audience, but a critically underserved one; if you make a game that only 100 000 people in the world thinks is a great idea, those people have nowhere else to go but your game. These people are underserved because AAA titles costing $100 million to make can never be targeted to such small audiences.

To a large extent we don't even know what belongs to the mainstream and what belongs to the long tail end of the distribution. We're fairly confident that cover-based shooters are mainstream, but who knew Minecraft was going to be a mainstream hit?

[Im_Just_A_Dreamer]

I'm surprised you guys didn't do an episode on replay value! It's such an important aspect of gameplay, but it stretches deep into our music and movies, too. If you did an episode on replay value, please link me to it because I just didn't find one. Thanks

[TechDeals]

7 years later, this has NOT improved!

[MrApplestew]

I think the new steam homepage is proof that these videos are being seen by the right people, Keep up the good work :)

[Gameboi]

Man, the visuals for this episode were awesome haha This whole ep. was pretty spot on, I really enjoyed it.

[cinammonstyx]

You know what would be interesting? A 'Games Out Of Your Comfort Zone' section of sorts. Games that lots of people enjoy, but aren't really like what you already have and have liked. I think it'd be interesting to have suggestions for games I wouldn't normally try.

[Tokkemon]

I love that the Valve guy has a three with an don't symbol. Very clever!

[hosono]

I think it's sad they didn't talk about the stream greenlight. Games with lower and lower quality enter the market and it takes month for Steam to find then and REMOVE THEM, because of how horrible they are. It makes looking for hidden gems impossible, and only AAA or popular games get bought.

[spilledink]

This is a bit unrelated to the video's topic but I just want to say that I love how your guys' artists draw characters of Many ethnicities and cultures and not just a few. I really appreciate it so keep doing what you're doing : 3

[DoomVideoVault]

I would love to see DLC, Early Access and Software being filtered out by the way the same that can be for searching for DLC.

[piteoswaldo]

I come from the future to say: the guys at Steam heard the critiques, and now the search has better filters, there's a "similar games" section (not searchable though, and not always good), and the "recommended for me" is actually good for finding new games!