Service expert we like it Data from 99,206 games on the Steam platform were analyzed and some characteristics of Valve’s website economic model were identified: half of paid games are expected to earn less than $4,000, with market leaders earning between $15 million and billions.
Image source: steampowered.com
Valve doesn’t release revenue figures, so researchers had to calculate indirectly: estimating sales based on user reviews and multiplying them by a certain factor. The report only covers paid games and does not include shareware games, non-game software, adult games, or unreleased games. The final sample of 99,206 games was drawn from the total list of 136,281 games. The standard multiplier is 35: the study authors assume that each review has 35 copies sold at the game’s current price; this number can range from 20 to 50 in different situations.
It’s estimated that half of paid games on Steam earn less than $3,622. The 90th percentile game earned approximately $236,184, and the 99th percentile game earned $15,872,031. This is clearly reflected in the image, with dense “green clouds” at the bottom and rare click “constellations” at the top. Those that have reached the $100 million mark are Half-Life 2, Vampire Survivor, Terraria, Among Us, Stardew Valley, Valhalla, Pal World and Baldur’s Gate 3; at the top of the list is GTA V. There is not a single review for 8024 games; according to previous reports, more than 5,000 games were released on Steam in 2025 alone, without even recouping the $100 release fee.
Image source: weloveit.io
The platform’s catalog is growing faster than its revenue. In 2024, 19,714 games were released on Steam, and in 2025, the number reached 23,107. In 2018, there were 7,427 people; by 2026, this number had reached 15,814 people. Previously, Alinea Analytics reported that Steam generated more revenue in the first half of 2026 than in all of 2020. Sandbox games have seen explosive growth in recent years – they are the most reliable game type on the platform in terms of profitability, leading both the median revenue and the top decile (top 10% of successful projects). In 2026, the sandbox will become the first in the ratio of competition to profit. Other lead types by projected revenue include:
- visual novel;
- simulator;
- role-playing games;
- fear;
- psychological horror;
- Fixed click tasks;
- sports competition;
- First person shooter.
The last two categories are significantly affected by microtransaction revenue. The worst performers are 2D and 3D platformers, whose status has only gotten worse in recent years. The broad and popular action and adventure genres have maintained their market leadership for many years; simulators and strategy games are starting to catch up in terms of the number of new products released. Some games, like Hollow Knight: Silk Song, are hard to define as a genre. “A game is only considered to belong to a genre if it is labeled one of the six most popular games.”“, explains the study’s authors.
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