Valve generated $15 billion in revenue through its Steam platform during 2026, according to data from Alinea Analytics, with the top six new releases of the year accounting for roughly $1 billion of that total. The platform's performance was anchored by three blockbuster launches: Microsoft's Forza Horizon 6 at $210.5 million, Pearl Abyss's Crimson Desert at $203.3 million, and Capcom's Resident Evil Requiem at $200.9 million.
Top Releases Anchor Storefront Sales
Forza Horizon 6 marked the highest-grossing new release on Steam for the year, pulling in $210.5 million since its launch. The open-world racing title, developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios, crossed the $200 million mark on the platform ahead of Crimson Desert and Resident Evil Requiem, which posted $203.3 million and $200.9 million respectively. Crimson Desert, a long-awaited open-world MMO from the makers of Black Desert Online, and Resident Evil Requiem, the next mainline entry in Capcom's survival horror franchise, both represent significant investments from their respective publishers into PC distribution.
Together, the top six new releases generated approximately $1 billion, representing 6.6 percent of the storefront's total revenue. The remaining 93.4 percent reflects the long tail of Steam's catalog, including back catalog sales, live-service titles, free-to-play monetization, and DLC.
New IPs Carve Out Share
Crimson Desert stands out as the leading new intellectual property among the year's top earners, demonstrating that a non-sequel, non-established franchise can reach the upper tier of PC sales when backed by sustained marketing and a recognizable developer pedigree. Mecham Chameleon, a new IP entry developed by Joystick Ventures, also featured prominently in the new IP revenue cohort, reflecting continued appetite among PC gamers for fresh intellectual properties.
Valve's cut from these major software sales remains substantial. The platform typically retains 30 percent of revenue from third-party sales, dropping to 25 percent once a title crosses $10 million and to 20 percent beyond $50 million. Applied to a $15 billion storefront, that structure translates into significant gross margin for Valve, even before accounting from first-party sales of the company's own hardware and titles like Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2.
The $15 billion figure underscores Steam's continued dominance in PC game distribution nine years after the platform last reported its operating metrics publicly. Valve has not disclosed revenue figures since 2017, when the company reported $4.3 billion in Steam revenue for the prior year.
