And what is common between these 2 eras? I'd say that a market hungry for new content met the people who could deliver it. In both instances, technology enabled the production, consumption and distribution of the new content (the Steam era is a revolution in the ease of distribution and production, while in the 80s there was a revolution in ease of production and consumption).

Now there's a glut of content. Will another opportunity ever appear again? In both cases, the opportunity didn't look good at first.

My game YOYOZO (Ars Technica's "Best Games of 2023") was made in 3 weeks. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38372936

indie games are still a hugely important part of the industry, Peak is a recent great example of a small team making something fast that is novel and successful.