Steam Early Access Is Growing, but Player Expectations Keep Rising

"Developers need to treat Early Access like a real launch, because players do." The number of Early Access games on Steam keeps growing, but so do player expectations, according to a GamesIndustry.biz feature. SteamDB data cited in the report shows that 2,924 Early Access games launched on Steam in 2026 as of mid-October, which is 18% more than in 2025 and 60% more than in 2020. Anthony Gallegos, creative director of Subnautica 2, says that Early Access is no longer limited to a few "edge-case" games.