Increased demand for cooperative games like Meccha Chameleon, the sixth most purchased title of the year on Steam.
Return of external publishers to Steam after attempting to distribute their games through their own launchers.
Relaunch of classic game catalogs by more publishers.
Steam is already approaching the total revenue of 2021
Rhys Elliott noted that Steam nearly quintupled the revenue obtained during a first semester in the last ten years.
Additionally, with the launch of the Steam Machine planned for the near future, the company could consolidate a year of strong growth as more consoles move towards exclusively digital distributions.
Steam reached a record revenue during the first half of 2026, registering US$11 billion, the best result in its 22-year history. Most of that revenue came from games released before 2026.
The data, compiled by Alinea Analytics, shows that only 21% of purchases made between January and June corresponded to titles released this year. The remaining 79% were for games from 2025 or earlier.
Steam reached a revenue record during the first half of 2026 by registering US$11 billion
Steam recorded its most profitable semester in 22 years
According to the data aggregated by Alinea Analytics, Steam generated US$11 billion during the first six months of 2026.
This figure far exceeds the US$7.2 billion obtained during all of 2020, at the peak of the pandemic, and is already close to the total recorded in 2021, when the platform reached US$11.4 billion.
Most purchases were for games released before 2026
The report indicates that only 21% of purchases made between January and June corresponded to titles released in 2026.
Steam recorded its most profitable semester in 22 years
Consequently, 79% of the games purchased by users were releases from 2025 or earlier. This trend was also observed in previous years:
In 2024, only 29% of the revenue came from games published that same year.
In 2025, that share dropped to 27%.
The best-selling games on Steam in 2026
Although recent titles led the individual sales ranking, the largest volume of revenue continued to come from games published earlier.
Forza Horizon 6: US$197.6 million.
Resident Evil Requiem: US$194.5 million.
Crimson Desert: US$190.1 million.
The best-selling games on Steam in 2026
What factors explain Steam's growth
In the Alinea Insights Newsletter, Rhys Elliott attributed this performance to several factors that boosted the platform's revenue.
