Steam generated a record $11.1 billion in the first half of 2026, more than the entire year of 2020

Valve's Steam platform has posted its highest-ever half-year revenue figure, generating an estimated $11.1 billion in gross revenue between January and June 2026, according to a new mid-year analysis from research firm Alinea Analytics. The figure eclipses the entirety of Steam's revenue during 2020, the pandemic year widely seen as a boom period for PC gaming.

The details:

• Alinea Analytics (via Eurogamer) estimates Steam grossed $11.1 billion in the first half of 2026, up 14.5% on H1 2025, and up 8% even on the holiday-heavy H2 2025, which is the more remarkable comparison given the back half of the year typically wins on seasonal sales.
• H1 2026's figure is roughly four times as large as Steam's first half of 2017, and the firm notes it surpasses the total revenue Steam generated across the entirety of 2020, when lockdowns drove a global surge in gaming.
• Alinea attributes the growth to a surge in Asian players (China especially), higher game prices, viral co-op hits, smarter back-catalogue strategies from major publishers, and third-party publishers returning to Steam after their own storefront experiments.
• The top three earners for H1 2026 were Resident Evil Requiem, Crimson Desert, and 007 First Light, each generating close to $200 million. Notable indie hits Mewgenics and Mina the Hollower also featured.
• A notable trend within the data: back-catalogue sales are growing as a share of total revenue. In H1 2024, 29% of game sales came from titles released that year; in H1 2025 it was 27%; in H1 2026 it has dropped to just 21%, suggesting players are spending more on older titles than ever before.
• The record revenue figure arrives as Valve faces criticism for the $1,049 starting price of the Steam Machine, with the company having explicitly stated that subsidising hardware costs "doesn't align with our beliefs."