Valve is not confirmed to be “making” $20 billion. Alinea Analytics estimates Steam generated $16.5 billion in gross sales in the first nine months of 2026 and forecasts more than $20 billion for the full year, according to GamesRadar and Tom’s Hardware. That is an estimate of marketplace sales—not Valve’s reported revenue, profit, or cash available to spend. If Steam’s sales do reach that level, Valve should invest in a safer, more useful, and more open PC gaming ecosystem.
Is Valve really making $20 billion?
No verified figure in the cited reporting shows that Valve itself will earn or hold $20 billion this year. Alinea Analytics’ estimate, reported by GamesRadar and Tom’s Hardware, puts Steam’s gross sales at $16.5 billion through the first nine months of 2026 and forecasts more than $20 billion for the full year. The forecast is not a final annual result, and neither report supplies audited Valve accounts.
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Gross marketplace sales are the total value of purchases processed through Steam. They are not the same as the amount retained by Valve after payments to publishers and developers, operating costs, taxes, or other expenses. The estimate alone does not reveal Valve’s commission total, profit, cash balance, or full corporate revenue. Those figures are not established by the cited sources.
What should Valve do with the money?
Valve should treat the scale of Steam as a reason to strengthen the PC gaming ecosystem that makes the storefront valuable. Without verified financial statements, it would be misleading to propose dollar amounts or percentages. The priorities below are recommendations, not claims about what Valve can currently afford.
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- This Visa Virtual eGift Card is non-reloadable. No cash or ATM access. Visa Virtual eGift Cards are emailed active.
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Make Steam safer and easier to use
Invest in account protection, clearer security controls, responsive support, and simpler ways to understand purchases, refunds, and privacy settings. These improvements would benefit players directly and help protect the trust on which a large digital library depends. The goal should be security that is effective without making ordinary access needlessly difficult.
Give developers better tools and a fairer chance to be found
Steam’s value depends on more than the number of games listed. Valve should improve the tools developers use to manage releases, communicate with players, and understand how their games are reaching audiences. It should also keep refining discovery so that recommendations and storefront visibility help players find relevant games without making success depend solely on already-established popularity.
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- Visa Virtual eGift Cards are designed for online use only. Gift Cards are subject to Terms and Conditions: a.co/5bw3qXJ
- When you access your Visa Virtual eGift Card for the first time, you’ll need to register your name, address, phone number, and email address via activationspot.com. These details should also be used as your billing address for online purchases, as many merchants require address verification for purchase authorization.
- This Visa Virtual eGift Card is non-reloadable. No cash or ATM access. Visa Virtual eGift Cards are emailed active.
- Funds do not expire but your Visa Virtual eGift Card has a ‘valid thru’ date (9 years from date of purchase). If funds remain after this date has passed, please call the Toll Free number found on your Visa Virtual eGift Card for a replacement card. A one-time purchase fee applies at the time of checkout.
- This item is not eligible for refund, resale, or return. Available for sale within the United States only. Not available to residents of Puerto Rico, Hawaii, New Mexico, South Dakota, West Virginia and the US Virgin Islands.
That approach can benefit smaller studios as well as players: developers gain clearer ways to reach an audience, while customers see a wider range of games suited to their interests. It should be paired with transparent expectations about how storefront systems work.
Expand access without tying PC gaming to one device
Valve’s Steam Deck illustrates one way to bring a Steam library into a portable format. Tom’s Hardware describes it as Valve hardware that provides portable access to most of a user’s Steam library. Continued investment in hardware and software compatibility could make PC games easier to play in more settings, but the broader principle should be choice: Steam games should remain accessible across a range of PCs and devices rather than requiring one piece of Valve hardware.
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- Visa Virtual eGift Cards are designed for online use only. Gift Cards are subject to Terms and Conditions: a.co/5bw3qXJ
- When you access your Visa Virtual eGift Card for the first time, you’ll need to register your name, address, phone number, and email address via activationspot.com. These details should also be used as your billing address for online purchases, as many merchants require address verification for purchase authorization.
- This Visa Virtual eGift Card is non-reloadable. No cash or ATM access. Visa Virtual eGift Cards are emailed active.
- Funds do not expire but your Visa Virtual eGift Card has a ‘valid thru’ date (9 years from date of purchase). If funds remain after this date has passed, please call the Toll Free number found on your Visa Virtual eGift Card for a replacement card. A one-time purchase fee applies at the time of checkout.
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How should those priorities be weighed?
A sensible test for any major investment is whether it improves the platform beyond simply increasing sales. Valve can assess proposals against three questions:
- User safety and experience: Does the change make playing, buying, or managing an account safer and less frustrating?
- Developer opportunity: Does it help a broader range of studios reach players and build sustainable businesses?
- PC openness: Does it preserve access and choice across devices and storefronts, rather than locking users into a single ecosystem?
These criteria point toward durable platform improvements rather than a spending spree or a narrow focus on hardware sales. A historical context for that direction comes from Valve co-founder Gabe Newell. In a 2011 interview quoted in a 2026 PC Gamer retrospective, he said, “It’s a lot easier for me to think of it as having a responsibility to gamers and game developers,” and also discussed the openness of PC gaming and its capacity for innovation. Those remarks offer context for a proposed principle; they are not a current spending commitment or proof of Valve’s present policy.
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What do the figures in the 2025 lawsuit establish?
A 2025 plaintiffs’ consolidated amended complaint alleged that Steam grossed more than $10 billion in 2024, had nearly 2 billion accounts, and reached as many as 39 million concurrent users. The figures and accompanying criticisms are allegations in a plaintiffs’ filing, not findings by a court. The complaint also argued that Steam’s scale and business terms harm competition and raised concerns about investment and security. Those arguments should be understood as litigants’ claims, not settled conclusions.
The filing is relevant because it shows how Steam’s scale can be viewed differently: as a platform with resources and reach, but also as one whose market power merits scrutiny. That makes transparency and meaningful improvements for users and developers especially important recommendations—not conclusions that the complaint proves any particular investment is required.
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- Visa Virtual eGift Cards are designed for online use only. Gift Cards are subject to Terms and Conditions: a.co/5bw3qXJ
- When you access your Visa Virtual eGift Card for the first time, you’ll need to register your name, address, phone number, and email address via activationspot.com. These details should also be used as your billing address for online purchases, as many merchants require address verification for purchase authorization.
- This Visa Virtual eGift Card is non-reloadable. No cash or ATM access. Visa Virtual eGift Cards are emailed active.
- Funds do not expire but your Visa Virtual eGift Card has a ‘valid thru’ date (9 years from date of purchase). If funds remain after this date has passed, please call the Toll Free number found on your Visa Virtual eGift Card for a replacement card. A one-time purchase fee applies at the time of checkout.
- This item is not eligible for refund, resale, or return. Available for sale within the United States only. Not available to residents of Puerto Rico, Hawaii, New Mexico, South Dakota, West Virginia and the US Virgin Islands.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
