Steam is unique among the online stores and platforms where players buy and play digital games. In this episode we discuss the unique features of Steam that have enabled the phenomenon of Banana—a super successful game that has no apparent game play or other features usually associated with video games. So, what is Banana and how did it become the second most popular ‘game’ on Steam? 
Hosted by Rune Nielsen, Paweł Grabarczyk, and Eik Boelt.
This is the seventh episode of ITU Playcast, a podcast by the Center for Digital Play at the IT University of Copenhagen. Each episode, we have a chat about one academic paper and one game. 
For some reason Rune says “Steam wallet” instead of “Steam account” a bunch of times this episode. 
Notes: 
Sky, AestheticSpartan, O'Brian. (2024). Banana [PC]. Sky. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2923300/Banana/
Thorhauge, A. M., & Nielsen, R. K. L. (2021). Epic, Steam, and the role of skin-betting in game (platform) economies. Journal of Consumer Culture, 21(1), 52-67. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540521993929