The Battle for Gamers’ Wallets: Steam Shows Staggering Revenue Growth

In the first half of 2026, games on the Steam platform generated a staggering $11.1 billion in gross revenue, setting an all-time record for the first six months. This result was 14.5% higher than the figures for the same period last year and even surpassed the second half of 2025 – which was rich in holiday sales – by 8%, although the end of the year usually leads in terms of revenue. In essence, Steam earned nearly as much in six months as it did during the entire peak pandemic year of 2021 ($11.4 billion).

The scale of this growth is impressive: current half-year revenue is 4.7 times higher than in the first half of 2017, meaning the platform has increased its revenue nearly fivefold over the past 10 years. For comparison, Steam’s annual revenue has grown from approximately $5.5 billion in 2017 to nearly $20 billion in 2025. Even in 2020, when the entire world was under lockdown due to the pandemic, the platform earned less in a full 12 months than it did in half of 2026.

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Several factors contributed to this success: a rapid influx of gamers from Asia (especially China), rising prices for new releases, the popularity of viral co-op games, flexible discounts from major publishers on older titles, and the return of third-party companies that had previously tried to promote their own launchers.

However, the analysis reveals an important trend: the share of revenue from new games is falling rapidly. While new releases accounted for 29% of revenue in the first half of 2024 and 27% in 2025, this figure dropped to 21% in the first half of 2026. This means that the share of revenue from the back catalog rose from 71% to 79%. Publishers are becoming increasingly creative in selling classic titles through discounts and bundles, while new games have to compete with thousands of time-tested hits that are often sold for next to nothing. Moreover, the graphical difference between releases from 2021 and 2026 has become almost imperceptible to most users, and the shortage of new hardware only fuels interest in older games. The back catalog has become the backbone of the business, where new releases often serve merely as advertising for previous installments in the series. Overall, as of the first few days of July, Steam’s total revenue in 2026 has already reached $11.6 billion.

Among the new games of 2026, Microsoft’s Forza Horizon 6 leads the pack, having earned $197.7 million in just under two months since its release, with a total of 3.5 million copies sold. About $4 million of that amount came from add-ons (in particular, the VIP subscription with double experience and bonuses brought in nearly $2,000,000). Its revenue generation rate is three times higher than that of Forza Horizon 5 in 2021. Right behind it is Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem, with $194.5 million in revenue and 3.4 million copies sold. However, only 8.9% of users who added the game to their wishlist purchased it at launch, indicating the audience’s long-term interest – a pattern typical for the series.

Pearl Abyss’s new role-playing game, Crimson Desert – a completely new franchise – has generated just over $190 million since its March release; however, in June, full-price sales at $70 began to drop to $9.2 million. Resident Evil Requiem served as an example of successfully countering such a decline; in June, it received its first 20% discount, which helped maintain revenue at May’s level.

Slay the Spire 2 became a true sales phenomenon. In four months of early access, the indie game sold 7.1 million copies – more than Forza Horizon 6 and Resident Evil Requiem combined. Thanks to its affordable price of $25, the game ranked fourth in revenue with $141.7 million, and 40% of users on the wishlist purchased it almost immediately (31% within the first week). Another sequel, Subnautica 2, generated $133.6 million, with about $120 million coming in May – the month it launched in early access. Only 12% of users on the wishlist have purchased this game so far, as most are waiting for the final 1.0 version due to the limited amount of content at launch.

The absolute leader in terms of copies sold in 2026 was Meccha Chameleon, priced at just $6, which earned $71.3 million. Despite a gradual decline in sales following its viral popularity, the game continues to bring in about $1 million per week, which is an incredible success for a development team of just two people. This example illustrates the current state of Steam, where a $6 game leads in sales volume, while a $70 project tops the revenue chart. This market situation benefits Valve’s platform itself and publishers with large portfolios of older games, but for new studios trying to release large-scale projects and forced to compete with the best games of past years at low prices, conditions are becoming increasingly tough.