Steam's Richest Year: $11.1 Billion in Six Months and Old Games Win
Analysts estimate Steam grossed more in the first half of 2026 than in all of 2020, and passed $15 billion by September. The surprise is where the money goes: almost four dollars in five went to games that weren't new.
In 2017, Steam was already the biggest PC store in the world, and analysts estimate it grossed about $5.5 billion that year. In the first six months of 2026 alone, it took about $11.1 billion.
That's the headline from market analysts Alinea Analytics, whose estimates (Valve does not publish its own figures) put Steam's first-half gross revenue up 14.5% year on year and 8% higher than the second half of 2025. By early September, Alinea's head of market analysis Rhys Elliott put the running total for the year at more than $15 billion, setting up what looks like Steam's strongest year ever.
By the numbers
- $11.1 billion: estimated Steam gross revenue in H1 2026.
- 14.5%: growth on H1 2025.
- $11.4 billion: Steam's estimated total for the whole of 2021, which H1 2026 almost matched on its own.
- 4.7x: H1 2026 versus H1 2017.
- About $20 billion: estimated full-year Steam revenue in 2025.
- $2.4 billion: combined revenue of 2026's top 100 new releases by September.
These are gross figures, before Valve's cut and before refunds, but the trend is clear: PC spending on Steam keeps climbing even as the wider games market grows slowly.
The surprise: old games rule
The most striking number is where the money goes. In H1 2024, new releases took 29% of Steam revenue. In H1 2025 that slipped to 27%. In H1 2026 it fell to 21%, which means 79% of spending went to games released in earlier years.
That's not because 2026's new games were weak; it's because the back catalogue is enormous and keeps earning. Live games such as Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, PUBG and Marvel Rivals, plus years of deep discounts on older hits, add up to a long tail that new releases can't outgrow.
2026's top new earners on Steam
Alinea's first-half chart of new releases, by gross Steam revenue: 1. Forza Horizon 6: $197.6 million in under two months, 3.5 million copies on Steam, selling roughly three times as fast as Forza Horizon 5 did in 2021. 2. Resident Evil Requiem: $194.5 million from 3.4 million buyers. 3. Crimson Desert: just over $190 million, the only new IP in the top group. 4. Slay the Spire 2: $141.7 million at a $25 price, from 7.1 million copies in four months of early access. 5. Subnautica 2: $133.6 million, about $120 million of it in its May launch month. 6. Meccha Chameleon: $71.3 million at just $6, and Steam's best-selling new game by copies.
Where the growth comes from
Alinea points to players in Asia, especially China, as a major driver. That fits other signs: Chinese-made hits like Phantom Blade Zero and huge Chinese player bases for games like PUBG and Slay the Spire 2. Steam's concurrent-user records, which keep tumbling, tell the same story; see our history of Steam's records.
Why it matters
For players, a richer Steam means more games, more sales and more investment in things like SteamOS. For developers, the message is mixed. Steam is a bigger market than ever, but a new release competes not just with this month's games but with a decade of discounted classics. That's why visibility events like Next Fest and the 2027 sale calendar matter so much. See which new games broke through in our 2026 Steam hits round-up.