Two Steam games had a similar idea, but only one is a top seller

One of the biggest surprises on Steam this March was Retro Rewind – Video Store Simulator, a management game harking back to the golden age of Blockbuster. The indie game, which was developed by two people in Canada, recently celebrated its 100,000 copies sold milestone, a figure that immediately catapults it into a rare echelon of successful Steam games. Even now, amid Steam’s Spring Sale, the lighthearted simulator sits comfortably between games like Resident Evil Requiem and Marathon on the PC storefront’s top sellers.

Retro Rewind came out on March 17. Just a week before, though, another game had a similar value proposition for Steam users. Rewind 99, originally released on March 11, is also a game about running a VHS rental store. There are differences between Retro Rewind and Rewind 99, of course. The latter, which is still in early access, is a sillier, boisterous action game with RPG elements where players can progressively unlock better powers and abilities.

Like Retro Rewind, there are management sim elements here, like ordering provisions, stocking shelves, and dealing with customers. But Rewind 99‘s scope is larger than that of Retro Rewind, as players can explore a city and interact with NPCs living out their daily lives. And finally, the initial management game also offers co-op. A Rewind 99 developer has described the game as “the open world of Schedule I meets the store manager simulator of TCG card shop simulator.” Another way of looking at this is that, if Retro Rewind appeals to the sort of nostalgia that works for an IP like Stranger Things, Rewind 99 instead speaks more to folks who like comical games, like Peak.

Rewind 99 performed decently on Steam. It has a few hundred reviews on the platform and its overall rating is “very positive.” Around half of all the releases on Steam don’t even get a dozen reviews! According to SteamDB, Rewind 99 also achieved a respectable player count high of around 1,100 concurrent players.

Retro Rewind, however, has blown its competitor out of the water. As of this writing, there are 4,500 people actively playing the Steam game with a more defined focus. Retro Rewind managed to break into the mainstream, with sites like The Hollywood Reporter and Popular Science covering its existence. That’s in addition to Retro Rewind‘s popularity with both YouTubers and Twitch streamers.

Now, the phenomenon of multiple people independently arriving at the same idea is nothing new. Just earlier this month, two games on Steam went viral after releasing with the same name. It’s not uncommon for games with similar premises to release around the same time frame, as we saw recently with Slay the Spire 2. There’s also been an uptick in management games recently where players can live out their nostalgic fantasies.

The developers for Rewind 99 did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but on social media, at least one creative has found themselves explaining the differences between both games. After pointing out that Rewind 99 has an open world and co-op, a game maker told a curious fan that “naturally there are a lot of implications tied to those two differences that tie into the core loop, key activities, progression, blah blah blah. There’s also a pretty significant difference in art direction.”

Funnily enough, though some fans have been left wondering if these two games “copied” each other, the kicker is that these actually aren’t the only games vying for attention with a similar premise. Later this year, Video Store Simulator will jump onto the Steam scene with a first-person perspective. Perhaps all three can come together and make the most of it, like Piece by Piece did?

But even amid Retro Rewind‘s blow up, the developers behind Rewind 99 are still hard at work, trying their best to enhance their game. Since release, Rewind 99 has seen a handful of updates that address bugs and also add new mechanics and content, like new toys, snacks, and side hustles. As far as Rewind 99‘s devs are concerned, the full game with all the intended polish and incorporated player feedback won’t be out until 2028. If the game is successful enough, that date might move up.

On Steam, developers consistently express an anxiety that all games are fighting tooth and nail for attention. Standing out in an environment that sees thousands of new releases every month is increasingly getting harder and harder. Achieving visibility when you’re releasing a game with a similar name, premise, and release window as another game is even tougher. Based on my conversations with developers in the past, no one likes thinking of industry colleagues as competition. But an industry as turbulent as this one, where players end up directing their money can be the difference between a studio existing and disbanding.

In this case, the stakes might not be nearly as high as it might be for a studio where everything is riding on the success of a game release. Rewind 99 hails from a team that has been in the industry for years, and each of them already has experience shipping multiple games. If nothing else, both games can be seen as a case study in how elements like tone, art direction, and features can impact the appeal of a general idea. For others, the situation might reinforce the notion that success is arbitrary, or that an idea is not nearly as important as its execution.

Whatever onlookers walk away with here, the folks behind Rewind 99 just seem thrilled that the game is finding an audience at all.

“! really appreciate yall sharing my silly little game,” one of the developers wrote on Reddit, in response to a viewer who discovered the game via a YouTuber. “It was an incredible moment getting to watch caseoh play last night – ill be real… i teared up big time LMAO.”