Steam's sales figures mask broader challenges

At the 2026 Game Developers Conference, Valve presented an upbeat picture of Steam: user growth is exponential, releases are up and developers have more tools. The company showed a graph saying nearly 6,000 games earned at least $100,000 on the platform in 2025, a 30% increase from 2020 to 2025, using the data to argue that the storefront isn't overrun despite 19,000 new releases in a single year.

Some developers pushed back. Mike Rose pointed out the 6,000 figure could include older titles and does not factor in taxes or Valve’s cut, arguing a number closer to $50,000 is more realistic. "How many multi-person studios do you know that could survive after making $50k from their game launch?

Not many!!" he wrote. Rose also praised Steam’s consistent work on discoverability and frequent feature updates but said the graph obscures a broader industry decline.

steam, valve, gdc, user growth, game releases, discoverability, 100k, 50k, developer revenue, mike rose