Media post: 8 Facts to Know About Video Games Behemoth Steam
If you are a dedicated gamer, particularly on PC, it’s highly likely that Steam plays a significant role in your gaming life. The platform has become more than a game distribution service, evolving into a community of gamers around the globe. It’s reached the level of ubiquitousness that it has become more a cultural phenomenon than a business.
There are many types of gaming platforms out there, from budding rivals to Steam, like the hardware-focused NVIDIA GeForce NOW, to social slot gaming platforms like McLuck, and console-centric options like Xbox Game Pass. Yet, for PC gamers, Steam is the dominant option. It’s basically done for gaming, what Netflix has done for television, and Spotify for music.
Yet, what do you need to know about Steam? How does it make money? What role does it truly play in the gaming sector? We have broken everything important down into eight facts:
The World’s Games Library
Steam is, first and foremost, a games distribution hub. At last count, the US version of the store had over 100,000 unique games. The pace of new additions is rising, too, with over 19,000 new titles added in 2024. The global feel is accentuated by the fact the platform supports 29 different languages. Whether you are in Las Vegas, London, Lahore, or Lagos, Steam will cater to you.
Netflix for Gamers
While Steam doesn’t have a traditional subscription model, we can measure its regular user base. It comes in at around 140 million unique users per month. While many users will simply download their game of choice and move on, there are options to stream (including free games), as well as news, reviews, and discussion forums.
A Brutal Marketplace
While Steam is a dream for gamers, it’s tough for game creators to stand out among the tens of thousands of games. The vast majority do not make a profit. Indeed, around 50% fail to generate over $500 in total revenue during their lifetime on the platform. There’s an interesting discussion in the sector around this. The fact there are so many games inevitably means many great games remain undiscovered.
A Ray of Light for Indies
While we mentioned above that Steam can be a tough marketplace for developers, it is worth noting that it is the go-to platform for indie developers to shine. In 2024, it was found that 1 in 4 of the top-grossing games on Steam were from first-time developers. If you believe in your game, this is where you want to have it.
The Profit-Making Machine
While developers must have some luck to make it big on Steam, the platform itself has no such issues making money. It takes a 30% cut on download sales, although this falls to 25% if your game makes over $10 million (20% for over 50 million). It also takes a percentage of in-game transactions. Its profit margins are said to be around 40%, earning parent company Valve billions each year.
The Chat Toppers
Steam does not publicly disclose download figures for individual games, but we can get an insight into the most popular games through a metric known as all-time peak concurrent players, which is basically the peak figure for players playing at the same time. PUBGL: Battlegrounds leads the way (peaking at over 3 million), followed by Black Myth: Wukong, Palworld, and Counter-Strike 2.
The Positive Aspects
As mentioned, Steam is to gaming what Netflix is to television. It didn’t invent the idea of digital distribution, but it played a key role in mainstreaming it. Steam is the dominant player in the industry of “gaming on demand.”. If you were a kid in the 80s or 90s, having to wait for what seemed like forever to get your hands on a game, you’ll know how revolutionary that feels. Any type of game – sometimes for free – is at your fingertips.
The Criticisms
Steam is not immune to criticism. First, there is the significant cut it takes from developers’ profits. There is also the sense of oversaturation and a lack of quality control. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there is the question of ownership. If you purchase a game on Steam, you must use Steam to access it. It begs the question of whether you truly own the game.
