Steam generated an estimated $1.7 billion in revenue in September 2026, a record for the platform, according to figures from the research firm Alinea. The result arrived during a period when the cost of building a gaming PC has been rising, and it indicates that higher hardware prices have not yet reduced spending on PC games.
New intellectual property accounted for 20.5% of revenue among the 500 top-grossing games on Steam last month, while established franchises produced 79.5%, a share that includes 3.8% from remakes and remasters. A group of major releases lifted the month's totals. Wardogs brought in an estimated $86.9 million since its early-access launch on September 10. Onimusha: Way of the Sword generated $30.4 million, and The Blood of Dawnwalker added $26.9 million.
Free-to-play titles remained a significant portion of Steam's business. Counter-Strike 2, Apex Legends, PUBG, and Dota 2 together produced almost $168 million in September, a figure equal to nearly 10% of the platform's total estimated monthly revenue.
Steam is also approaching a record for the number of games released in a single year. As of October 1, the platform had 20,220 game releases in 2026, with another 1,156 titles scheduled to arrive during October. If those launches proceed as planned, the year would exceed the 21,268 games released on Steam in 2025.
With a busy release schedule ahead, Alinea estimates that Steam could pass $20 billion in annual revenue for the first time. That threshold would mark another milestone for a platform whose business now reaches beyond desktop and laptop computers, an audience that matters in the US and other markets where Valve operates.
Valve has extended Steam's reach through the Steam Deck, a handheld device that lets users access most of their Steam library away from a desk. The company has also moved into living-room gaming with the newly launched Steam Machine, and it is working to bring Steam OS, its gaming-focused operating system, to more devices.
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