An Empirical Study of Delayed Games on Steam

TL;DR

This empirical study analyzes 23,485 Steam games to understand the prevalence, timing, and impact of release delays, revealing that nearly half of games are delayed, with minimal effect on ratings.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale empirical analysis of game release delays on Steam, highlighting delay patterns and their negligible impact on game ratings.

Findings

48% of games experienced delays

Median delay was 14 days

Delayed games have slightly lower ratings

Abstract

The gaming industry is rapidly expanding. With over 2.7 billion players worldwide, game development has become increasingly challenging. To meet the ever-changing demands and expectations of players and due to unforeseen hindrances in the development process, game developers may require to delay the release of their game. We conducted an empirical study of 23,485 games on the Steam platform to analyze how often, and which games delayed their release date. We find that delaying a release is common: 48% of the studied games had a delayed initial release. Games delayed their release by a median of 14 days. Games for which a release date range (e.g., "Q1 2019") was specified, rather than a specific date were more likely to release within that range. Across different game genres, the percentage of games that delay release is similar (ranging from 48% to 52%). Finally, games with a delayed release are rated lower than games that release on time, but the difference is negligible.