Julia Stoll
Research expert covering TV and video media
Steam gaming platform - Statistics & Facts
Originally launched over 20 years ago, digital PC game storefront Steam is arguably one of the most well-known online gaming platforms and distributors worldwide. In 2024, Steam was estimated to having sold over 718 million games in total.
While Steam has arguably had its best year yet and digital PC gaming is going strong, Steam and parent company Valve still have to continue to innovate in order to keep their market leader position.
How many players are on Steam?
After steadily increasing its user figures during the global coronavirus pandemic, Steam managed to retain its post-COVID momentum and continues to grow its active audiences. In 2023, the platform reported 33 million peak concurrent Steam users worldwide, an increase from 27.4 million just two years earlier. Additionally, the number of peak concurrent in-game users on Steam was most recently estimated at over 12.5 million.The most popular games on Steam
There are over 89,000 games available on Steam, with over 15,000 games being published in 2024 alone. The biggest game on Steam in 2024 was Black Myth: Wukong. The single-player action role-playing game was ranked first in terms of peak concurrent users, topping out at over 2.4 million simultaneous players worldwide. Other popular titles of the year were the survival and monster-taming game Palworld, as well as the first-person shooter Counter-Strike 2. Throughout the year, the most popular games regularly reach several hundred thousand concurrent players on average.How does Steam make money?
Steam generates most of its revenue through digital game sales via its platform. In 2024, it was estimated that Steam’s annual gaming revenue amounted to 10.8 billion U.S. dollars, the platform's best result yet. Platform sales account for over two-thirds of Steam’s gaming revenue, while in-game microtransactions make up the rest. Industry estimates place Steam’s average revenue per user (ARPU) at 19.55 U.S. dollars. Additionally, game developers must pay Steam a cut of their revenues in order to sell their products through the platform. The company has also branched out into producing gaming hardware, most notably the Steam Deck, a handheld gaming computer that was released in February 2022 to positive acclaim.Steam's competitors
Although Steam still towers as an immensely influential digital storefront for online gaming purchases, the competition has not been sleeping. Direct competitors of Steam include the Epic Games Store (operated by Epic Games), GOG.com (a subsidiary of video game company CD Projekt), British platform Green Man Gaming, indie platform Itch.io, the Humble Store, as well as publishers’ own first-party video game distribution platforms such as Electronic Arts’ EA App and the Ubisoft Store. Additionally, video game subscription services have become increasingly popular, and are also eating into direct video game sales.While Steam has arguably had its best year yet and digital PC gaming is going strong, Steam and parent company Valve still have to continue to innovate in order to keep their market leader position.
