47,504 grids were uploaded in 2020. In a single year, the community created and uploaded more grids than every year since the site’s inception in 2015, combined.
In October of 2019, Steam was given a huge update. Its game library was yanked into modernity, and headers were joined by capsules, heroes, and logos. SteamGridDB soon followed; 81% of the site’s heroes and 85% of its logos were uploaded in 2020.
SteamGridDB has only continued to grow since the library overhaul. Its monthly upload average leaped from 506 assets to 9,344, and it stayed.
More users and more content means more work was needed to keep the site polished. In June of 2020, a moderation team was recruited from Moofy and Lukalot to handle a new report system, and to advise site development. The team formulated the site rules and FAQ, and it has accordingly changed and deleted countless assets since.
We also thank Mr. Mendelli for providing moderation and community assistance throughout 2020, with his resignation coinciding with the new year.
Patreon
April of 2020 was the very first time that SteamGridDB was able to subsist purely on Patreon contributions. We thank our supporters for providing invaluable assistance, without which this project would not be possible.
Most Popular Game
The tremendous hype surrounding the most anticipated game of 2020 was reflected even on SteamGridDB. A baffling 171 new assets were submitted to Cyberpunk 2077, making it the most uploaded of 2020 — with a comfortable margin! Only 40 of these assets were submitted after the game’s December release, which even alone is more grids than most games could hope for.
An interesting runner up, with 151 new assets, is The Witcher 3, which had its fifth birthday in 2020. It looks like CD Projekt Red’s reputation is not only limited to Cyberpunk.
Most Popular Style
(Excluding Alternate)
Qui-Gon Jinnah, huegh, and pizzadoggo pioneered the White Logo style back in 2016. It hit the mainstream and ballooned in popularity when a showcase post reached the front page of /r/Steam in September of 2019. The popularity of White Logo grids has only grown since; 51% of all White Logo grids were uploaded in 2020.
Projects
February of 2020 saw the introduction of community projects. It launched with the prospect of filling out assets for entire console catalogues: i.e. the Wii U project. 65% of its 1,350 games received a full set of assets since, and the project is still in progress. Three more projects have been introduced in the intervening time, two of which were completed!
Not every game on Steam received new artwork when the library was updated, especially the oldies which have since been neglected or forgotten by their publishers — or the publisher no longer exists! With the Steam Pre-Greenlight project, the community began to fill in the holes where the publishers did not. From February to October of 2020, and from 0 games to 1,017, the project was completed in 8 months.
In May, the Tetris Project was initiated with the objective of assets for all 205 versions of Tetris: a less intimidating goal than the other projects, but still challenging due to the sheer obscurity of some of its games. Tirelessly championed by Jib (playfully nicknamed the Tetris Man) and with major contributions from carlsgrids, the project was finally completed just three days earlier than Pre-Greenlight.
See you in 2021!
A big thanks to the community for their contributions and keeping the site alive! Development on the site (and the Manager, but a bit later) will carry on as usual.
We invite you to join us on Discord, and check out our Open Source projects on Github.