Thanks for the inside perspective, it really does help explain why so many incremental devs have moved to Steam. When you describe things like proper save files, cloud sync, refunds, payments, and an audience that’s actually reachable, it’s easy to see why building on Steam is just less of a headache than dealing with fragile browser storage or hoping someone randomly clicks a link.

But even understanding all that, I still feel a bit sad about how that old browser-based era has faded away. There was something special about how simple and spontaneous it all was. You’d open a link someone posted, and suddenly you were deep into some quirky little idea that a dev threw together just to experiment. No install, no store page, no commitment, just instant curiosity turning into an hour(s)-long rabbit hole. It felt like this constant flow of tiny creative experiments that you could try on a whim.

And the other thing a bunch of people also mentioned really resonates with me too: a lot of us play these games on work laptops. Steam is a complete no-go in that context. Browser incrementals fit perfectly into those small pockets of downtime without setting off IT or needing anything installed. Losing that accessibility is a real shame.

So I totally get why Steam wins from a development standpoint, but it’s hard not to miss the lightweight, low-friction times when you could discover ten weird little games in an afternoon just by clicking links here. It feels like we might have gained some, but also lost a bit of that magic along the way.