[doctorfoo]

Damn, just when I was starting in gamedev again. But was there really ever a bubble? As long as I remember it's been insanely difficult to succeed. These sort of complaints have been going on in indie developer forums for years. w.r.t Steam, it sounds like the Apple App store all over again (or at least played out in slower motion). Enormous/easy profits for the early adopters, then diminishing returns as competition increases. For different reasons; new technology (iOS) vs careful curation (Steam). I'd say actual game quality improved as a result though. It's all good for the consumer!

Making games is just fun, everybody and their dog wants to do it. To succeed commercially a game can't just be good, it has to be insanely polished, deep, or unique. (Yes, or lucky... and preferably all of the aforementioned.)