Steam Made $15B in 2026, and These New Games Are Printing Money

Ever wonder just how much cash Steam rakes in? Spoiler: it's enough to buy Gabe Newell a few more superyachts. According to Rhys Elliot, head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics, Steam has pulled in a whopping $15 billion in 2026 alone. And with a massive slate of high-profile releases on the horizon, that number is only going to climb.

The big earners this year? A mix of AAA blockbusters and indie darlings. Topping the list is Forza Horizon 6, which generated $210.5 million in revenue. Right on its heels is Crimson Desert with $203.3 million, followed by Resident Evil Requiem at $200.9 million. Slay the Spire 2 snagged over $148 million, while Subnautica 2 and Meccha Chameleon brought in $139.2 million and $89.8 million, respectively.

Now, those numbers sound huge, but here's the kicker: they only account for 6.6% of Steam's total revenue. Elliot points out that the top 100 new games by gross revenue make up 15.9% of Steam's 2026 earnings—around $2.4 billion. So, while new releases are a big deal, they're not the whole story.

Digging deeper, Elliot found that of those top 100 new games, 63% were new IP, but established franchises did the heavy lifting, contributing 52.5% of the revenue ($1.25 billion). Crimson Desert is the outlier here, accounting for about 18% of all new-IP revenue in the top 100. Remove that game from the equation, and the remaining 62 new-IP games only make up about 39% of the revenue. As Elliot puts it, "a lot of established IP is doing the legwork, as you'd expect."

But wait, there's more. Steam's coffers are about to get even fatter with highly anticipated releases like Phantom Blade Zero, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, and Gears of War: E-Day on the way. And remember, Valve takes a cut of every sale, including those lucrative microtransactions and DLC packs that come with most games these days.

So, what do you think? Are you surprised by these numbers, or did you expect Steam to be swimming in even more cash? Will any of these upcoming titles be day-one purchases for you? Let us know in the comments!