Hunting for New Games? Polygon’s Wishlister Wants To Help
Polygon has launched Wishlister, a weekly newsletter aimed at solving the video game industry's central problem: discoverability. With approximately 70 new games released on Steam daily, both developers and players struggle to identify worthy titles among the overwhelming volume. Polygon created the service to help readers discover promising upcoming games using the publication's editorial expertise.
Wishlister launched in September and delivers six curated games weekly across varied genres, from indie titles such as Acornia: Mirror World to atmospheric experiences like Vivarium. Readers can add any featured game directly to their Steam wishlist from the newsletter, requiring no purchase or long-term commitment. The service is free and provides a weekly digest sent directly to subscribers' inboxes.
- Polygon launches Wishlister to help gamers discover new titles
- Steam releases 70 games daily; discoverability is gaming's biggest challenge
- Free weekly curation of six games for your Steam wishlist
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The video games industry faces a significant challenge around discoverability. With approximately 70 new games released on Steam each day, both players and developers struggle to identify quality titles amid the sheer volume of releases.
Polygon, a video games and entertainment publication, has created Wishlister, a weekly newsletter designed to address this problem. The service curates six games each week across various genres and sends them directly to subscribers' inboxes, with readers able to add any featured title to their Steam wishlist with a single click.
The newsletter is free and began in September. It represents one attempt to help readers navigate the overwhelming volume of new game releases and discover titles they might otherwise overlook.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Editorial curation offers a meaningful response by harnessing professional expertise to identify quality games that might disappear amongst thousands of weekly releases, whilst particularly supporting independent developers lacking substantial marketing resources. Readers receive convenient, trusted recommendations based on experienced critics' judgement, delivered free and without any commitment required.
The case against
A weekly curation of six games provides only a limited response to the underlying problem of 70 daily Steam releases and risks reflecting particular editorial biases rather than diverse player preferences. Subjective human selection may inadvertently favour games with existing media connections, whereas personalised algorithmic recommendations could more efficiently match games to individual tastes and address the fundamental scaling challenge.