During 2026, steam continues to solidify its position as the leading distribution platform in the PC gaming market. According to data shared by Rhys Elliott, head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics, the Valve Store has so far generated Total revenue $15 billion. This figure comes from commissions on direct sales of the game, publishing fees, and microtransactions.
Revenue surges
A large part of these collections are related to launch new gameswhether it’s a big-budget production or an independent scene success. Among the highest-grossing games, Forza Horizon 6 stands out, generating $210.5 million in revenue on Steam alone. they follow closely crimson desert 203.3 million, and Resident Evil Requiem 200.9 million. Finally, the most profitable new games include Slay the Spire 2 (148 million), Subnautica 2 (139.2 million), and Mecha (89.8 million).
While these six games alone account for 6.6% of total revenue of $15 billion, a broader analysis shows that the 100 highest-grossing new games in 2026 will account for 15.9% of total Steam revenue, equivalent to approximately $2.4 billion.
Nexus Mods has acquired SteamDB, but the service will continue to operate separately
An interesting fact that emerged from the research concerns the commercial balance between historical brands and new intellectual property. In this regard, Elliott clarified: “Of the 100 new games in the ranking, 63% are actually new IPs, but 52.5% of the revenue ($1.25 billion) comes from established IPs. However, it is worth noting that “Crimson Desert” with $203 million in revenue, accounting for about 2% of the top 100 new IPs, if we exclude Crimson from the total revenue. Games based on new IPs accounted for only 39% or so, so, as you might expect, Integrated IP is doing most of the work”.
Forecasts for the final quarter of this year predict further physiological growth in Steam’s revenue. In fact, several publications with huge commercial appeal are on the horizon, including “Phantom Blade Zero”, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4”, “Gears of War: E-Day”which also includes constant revenue from additional content and in-game purchases, of which Valve keeps a percentage.
