Steam Hits $1.7 Billion in September: Valve on Track for Record $20 Billion Year
Steam continues to operate as a powerful money printer for Gabe Newell. While the global economy seeks stability, gamers consistently bring money to the platform, achieving one record after another. September 2026 was no exception, showcasing the audience's appetites that only continue to grow.
Financial peaks and quarterly achievements
According to Alinea Analytics, in September the platform earned $1.7 billion (76.5 billion UAH). This is a new absolute record for the first month of autumn, exceeding the September 2025 figure by 13%. The third quarter as a whole also became the best in Steam's history: revenue amounted to $5.5 billion (247 billion UAH), increasing by 12% compared to the previous year.
Platform revenue growth dynamics. Illustration: Alinea Analytics
So far in 2026, Valve has already generated $16.5 billion (742 billion UAH). For comparison, during the same period last year, the company earned $14.5 billion. With such dynamics, the annual revenue will almost certainly surpass the $20 billion mark (900 billion UAH). It is important to understand that Valve remains a private company and does not publish official reports, so all these figures are the result of detailed analyst calculations. In addition to financial successes, the service is also expanding its audience: on March 29, 2026, Steam set a record for the number of online users — over 42.6 million people simultaneously.
Who's bringing the money: from free-to-play to Wardogs
Despite the fact that the main locomotives of the platform are free games, they generate huge sums on microtransactions. The quartet of Counter-Strike 2, Apex Legends, PUBG, and Dota 2 brought almost $168 million (7.6 billion UAH) in September, accounting for about 10% of the store's total revenue.
Revenue distribution among top games. Illustration: Alinea Analytics
In the segment of paid projects, the fresh Wardogs became the leader, earning nearly $87 million (3.9 billion UAH). In second place was the new part of Onimusha with a result of $30.4 million (1.4 billion UAH) — this is the first major game in the series in the last 20 years. The following projects also made it to the list of leaders:
- The Blood of Dawnwalker
- Bodycam
- FC 27
- How to Fish
- Control Resonant by Remedy (direct sequel to the 2019 game).
