🎪 From the G-STAR 2026 × Steam Tie-In to Indie Sales Stats, This Week's Steam Roundup! 💸 - 2026.10.28 | Steam

Hello, fans! 🎮

Is your Steam library ready to grow again? This week we've got G-STAR news, indie hit stats, and Valve updates all lined up! 💸

🎪 G-STAR 2026 Opens a Dedicated Steam Promotion Page

The G-STAR Organizing Committee announced the Steam tie-in program for participating developers at the 'Indie Showcase 2.0: Galaxy' on the 28th ^[2]. The key point is a separate 'G-STAR 2026 Special Promotion' page on Steam, featuring official featured banners (the recommendation banners Steam displays at the top of its store, for example) ^[1]. The idea is that overseas gamers who can't visit the venue can check out exhibited titles online and buy them right away, which sounds like good news for Steam users! 😆 The exact opening date and list of featured games have not been announced yet, so let's keep an eye on official channels ^[1].

The showcase is also the biggest ever. It takes place on the 1st floor of BEXCO Exhibition Hall 2, with 114 companies participating in total, and 109 of them are listed in the main showcase ^[3]. The event runs from the 19th to the 22nd of next month ^[2].

There's plenty to see. Thirty titles built with the Unity engine and the winners of the Unity AI Game Jam will be on display ^[4], and Devolver Digital will debut a special build of an unreleased new game on site ^[4]. Official hardware partner KOMODO is running a Steam Deck demo zone, so you can try indie games on a handheld ^[3]. Also, general admission BTC passes are sold 100% online, and there is no on-site ticket booth, so if you're going, grab your ticket in advance! 🎫 ^[1]

📈 Early Indie Hits More Than Doubled in One Year

According to Sensor Tower, games released on PlayStation, Steam, and Xbox from September 2025 to August 2026 that sold 500,000 or more paid copies in their first 30 days totaled 76, up 21 from 55 in the same period a year earlier ^[5]. Of those 21 additional hits, 20 came from indie developers, and the number of indie hits jumped from 13 to 33 ^[5].

In particular, low-budget online co-op and party games dubbed 'friendslop' drove indie growth. Metachrome Chameleon sold 13.3 million copies in its first 30 days, the second-highest result among all new releases after Battlefield 6 ^[5]. Time to recheck that list of games to play with your friends! 👯

🤖 Worried About AI Cloning? Valve Answered Directly

On the 27th, Valve's Steam Business team shared its stance on AI-driven cloning concerns at a developer event. According to Valve, the biggest barrier against cloned games is the trust built with players, and features and personality that keep being added through updates cannot be copied as easily as a single mechanic ^[6].

Meanwhile, Korean indie studio YNOT has stopped distributing the demo of its cooking tycoon game 'Spooky Kitchen', which it had released on Steam on the 20th. The decision came after it received a tip that someone was attempting to clone the game with AI ^[7]. Japanese indie developer Alliance Arts also cancelled the demo release of 'Drunken Gardis Reflux' for similar reasons ^[7]. The article also cited industry explanations that online games, where servers handle core functions, are relatively harder to clone, while packaged games are comparatively more vulnerable ^[7].

💿 CD Support Added to Steam Frame?!

According to the video, Valve did not include physical media support such as CDs when Steam Frame launched. But one user said they like using a disc drive to watch movies on the go and to play games not available on Steam, and Valve reportedly turned on support in just 10 minutes ^[8]! Physical media making a comeback in the most unexpected place! 📀

Did you manage to protect your wallet this week? See you in the next update! 🎮