Steam just had its biggest six months ever — $11.1 billion in H1 2026
Steam pulled in $11.1 billion in gross revenue during the first half of 2026 — the highest half-year figure in the platform's history, according to Alinea Analytics. That's 14.5% more than H1 2025 and, strikingly, more than Steam made during the entire pandemic year of 2020. For anyone who buys PC games, this is the clearest sign yet that Steam's grip on digital distribution is tightening, not loosening.
Record numbers, old games
The $11.1 billion figure is gross revenue — what players actually spent on games and in-game purchases — not what Valve pocketed. Valve's standard cut is around 30%, though the exact terms with individual publishers stay confidential. Still, the scale is hard to ignore: the platform nearly matched its full-year 2021 total in just six months.
The breakdown tells a more complicated story. Only 21% of H1 2026 revenue came from games released this year — down from 29% in H1 2024. Back-catalogue titles — games already on players' shelves, sometimes for a decade — drove 79% of spending. That's a significant shift, and it puts pressure on new releases to compete against years of accumulated discounted games.
Steam's H1 2026 gross revenue hit $11.1 billion — more than the platform earned in all of 2020.
New releases still breaking through
The top new titles of 2026 show that a strong game can still cut through. Forza Horizon 6 led all 2026 releases with $197.7 million in Steam revenue since its May launch, just ahead of Resident Evil Requiem ($194.5 million) and Crimson Desert ($190 million). All three hit nine-figure Steam revenue within weeks — but together they represent a fraction of what older games collectively earned.
Forza Horizon 6, Resident Evil Requiem, and Crimson Desert were the top-earning new Steam releases of H1 2026.
Why Steam keeps winning
Alinea Analytics points to several forces behind the record: a surge in Asian players — particularly from China, where Steam's user base has grown dramatically — higher game prices in Western markets, and a wave of third-party publishers returning to Steam after their own standalone launcher experiments failed. As Tech Insider notes, Steam holds roughly 74% of the PC digital distribution market, against Epic Games Store's 3%. With competitors retreating, that dominance is only reinforcing itself. For players, more choice on Steam is a good thing — but less competition outside it rarely is.