On September 15, Hard Shark Games released 29 games on Steam in a single day, all in Early Access. Genres include racing, retail simulation, survival horror, sports, flight simulation, and 2D platformers. Based on public review counts, the low-end revenue estimates for three of these games over their first five days total $1,783, more than half of the $2,900 listing fee for the batch.
All 29 games list Hard Shark Games as both publisher and developer. The Early Access descriptions for the company's games launched in September 2026 all begin with the same sentence: "We chose to release the game in Early Access to involve the community from the very beginning."
A similar situation occurred last year. On March 4, 2025, Hard Shark Games also released 29 games in a single day. The Early Access descriptions for Speedboat Simulator and Toy Battlefield: Shooter Survival both began with the same invitation for the community to participate from the early stages of development.
Some game update announcements are also identical. The patch notes for Starship Warrior, Air Combat, and Fury Streets all begin with: "Optimized several core systems for smoother gameplay, improving overall performance by up to 10%, especially noticeable during extended play sessions." All three announcements were posted on March 5, within five minutes of each other.
Creating a game store page on Steam requires a $100 fee, which is recouped once the game's adjusted gross revenue exceeds $1,000. Based on this, Hard Shark Games paid $2,900 to list these 29 games.
Revenue estimates use the Boxleiter method provided by impress.games, which calculates sales based on public Steam review counts. The estimated revenue range for Supermarket Life Simulator is $295–$885, for Billiards it is $926–$2,780, and for F1 Simulator it is $562–$1,686.
The combined low-end estimates for the three games total $1,783, based on revenue from the first five days after launch, exceeding half of the total listing fees for the 29 games. If actual revenue is closer to the high-end estimates, just these three games would generate over $2,900. However, these figures are estimates and do not deduct production costs, so they cannot be directly considered profit.
Regarding production costs, Supermarket Life Simulator used the $50 Unity asset pack "Checkout Chaos – Convenience Store Simulator," with identical grocery assets visible in both the game and asset pack screenshots. Other retail simulation games on Steam also use this asset pack. Using assets doesn't necessarily mean a game is problematic, but some Steam users have criticized Supermarket Life Simulator in reviews for directly applying the template with minimal changes, and Hard Shark Games' other titles often face similar accusations.
Another game titled Axe Murderer even features Kratos in its screenshots.
Hard Shark Games has 217 entries on Steam, including 121 games and 96 demos. Among these titles, the highest concurrent player count recorded is just 13, held by Supermarket Simulator Pro Demo, which is no longer available.
If Hard Shark Games is indeed operated by a single individual producing template-based games quickly at very low cost, this publishing model could still generate considerable revenue. However, the team size and actual production costs have not been confirmed. Currently, BFG Entertainment has published 555 games, while PlayWay has 340.
Steam Top Earners: September 8–15
Titles mentioned in this week's earnings chart include PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, Counter-Strike 2, Marvel Rivals, Halloween: The Game, and Blood of Dawnwalkers.
The multiplayer Early Access title War Dogs topped the earnings chart in its launch week. Discussion around the game has focused less on issues, with player feedback leaning positive.
Blood of Dawnwalkers ranked first during its launch week last week but dropped to tenth this week. Onimusha fell from sixth last week to thirteenth this week; at least on PC, Blood of Dawnwalkers performed better on the charts.
Halloween: The Game appears on this list despite being unavailable in Australia due to lacking a local classification rating.
Last Week's Niche New Releases
Lili's World XD, released on September 18, uses a fictional computer desktop interface, similar to Hypnosis Space Outlaw and Emily is Gone. The game centers around an old laptop found in a trash bin, with an operating system stuck in a 2004 aesthetic. Players must search through Lili's chat logs and blog posts for clues to gradually uncover a disturbing mystery, featuring fourth-wall-breaking moments along the way.
Also released on September 18, 20 More Somehow Smaller Mazes features 20 maze puzzles and is the sequel to the 2024 title 20 Small Mazes. The original has received over 6,500 reviews with an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating. The sequel is free and takes about 30 minutes to complete.
Released on September 16, Brazilian Drug Dealer 4 Prequel: The Demons from the Hell Portal I Opened Are Still in the Favela, and Now I Have to Save Mamadas from Ronaldo is a standalone expansion for Brazilian Drug Dealer 3. This retro shooter series is built on the original Quake engine, featuring sprinting and double jumps, with deliberately vibrant and exaggerated visuals infused with Brazilian elements.
Dimres is also among this batch of new releases, launching on September 16.