Steam has experienced its most lucrative period to date, generating $11 billion in profit during the first half of 2026. This record-breaking sum, spanning from January to June, was predominantly fueled by sales of older video games, according to data aggregated by Alinea Analytics. The platform's earnings for this six-month stretch nearly match its entire revenue for 2020, a year marked by the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Analysis indicates that only 21% of purchases made between January and June 2026 were for titles released in the same year. Conversely, a significant 79% of game sales were for titles launched in 2025 or earlier. This trend of older games contributing a larger share of revenue has been growing, with 29% of 2024 revenue and 27% of 2025 revenue coming from games released in those respective years.
While newly released games like Forza Horizon 6, Resident Evil Requiem, and Crimson Desert were Steam's top earners for 2026, individually grossing $197.6 million, $194.5 million, and $190.1 million respectively, the aggregate revenue from past titles significantly outweighs them.
Rhys Elliott, writing for the Alinea Insights Newsletter, attributed this surge in earnings to several converging factors. These include a substantial influx of new users from Asia, particularly China, an increase in the pricing of new game releases, the viral success of co-op titles such as Meccha Chameleon, a return of third-party publishers to Steam after experimenting with their own launchers, and a renewed focus on re-releasing back catalogs by publishers.
Steam's 2026 half-year earnings of $11 billion have already surpassed its 2021 total of $11.4 billion, with Elliott noting that the platform's half-year revenue has nearly quintupled over the past decade. The upcoming release of the Steam Machine also positions the company for a potentially dominant year, especially as more consoles move towards digital-only distribution models.