In 2025, some of the best-selling premium games on Steam weren’t massive AAA titles or deep live-service games.
They were small, chaotic co-op games designed for a few fun nights with friends. And the internet started calling them ‘friendslop’. It’s not exactly a flattering name, but the numbers behind them are hard to ignore.
Thanks to AppMagic‘s recent article, the bigger picture behind this trend becomes much clearer.
Games like R.E.P.O, Peak, Schedule I, RV There Yet were among Steam’s top premium games by copies sold. Yet most of these titles are priced between $5-$10, which at first glance makes them seem like low revenue per player. But that assumption misses how these games are actually bought.
It usually starts with discoverability. One friend finds the game and drops it in the group chat:
“This looks hilarious. We should try it”
Within minutes, three or four friends buy it together. A $9.99 purchase becomes $30-$40 in revenue in a single moment.
Then comes the second ingredient: fun, chaotic moments.
Players jump in, proximity voice chat turns chaotic, someone makes a terrible decision, everyone starts yelling and laughing, and suddenly a perfect clip-worthy moment happens. Those moments end up on TikTok, Twitch, or YouTube, which brings in the next wave of players.
Interestingly, these games don’t try to keep players forever. Many of them sit around ~3% Day-30 retention, as they were intentionally designed for just a few memorable sessions with friends before players move on. And it works perfectly. In a world where many games demand dozens of hours and large upfront costs, these games offer something refreshing.
A cheap game. A free evening. And a few friends ready to laugh.
