Valve Keeps Wrecking Shop with Steam

Valve

Valve, you wily devils. Not only do you make critically acclaimed video games, you also happened to pioneer iTunes for video games on the PC. Over the holidays, you wow-ed everyone with some ridiculous giveaways, absurd gaming deals and hit the whole Steam community with a shot of adrenaline that gave college kids the world over something to do during the Winter break.

But it doesn’t stop there. Valve recently reported its 2011 end-of-year statistics, and they’re staggering. Here’s a brief rundown of some of the highlights:

  • Steam offers over 1800 games to 40 million account holders
  • Year-over-year sales have doubled from 2010 to 2011, marking 100 percent growth for the 7th straight year
  • 14.5 million copies of Steam registered in 2011, a 67 percent increase over 2010
  • Steam doubled the amount of content it served in 2011 – over 780 Petabytes

Firstly, I didn’t even know a Petabyte was a thing. It just sounds made up. Literally, my brain can not fathom the numbers that go into that, even though I looked it up. This might just be because I’m a stupid person, though. The other shocking statistic is the fact that Steam’s sales have doubled each year for the last 7 years. I knew that they had a corner on the market, but it’s nuts to me that keeps soaring upward. And when you think about it, there’s really no other place for those sales numbers to go, considering that more content keeps coming out and there are so few legitimate competitors.

So what do you guys think of these Steam statistics? Come sing Steam’s praises if you wish.

CVG

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I write about samurai girls and space marines. Writer for Smooth Few Films. Rooster Teeth Freelancer. Author of Red vs. Blue, The Ultimate Fan Guide, out NOW!

8 thoughts on “Valve Keeps Wrecking Shop with Steam”

  1. Oh, I’m singing loud and clear. So nice to see Valve continue to do well. I’m sure a part of this years numbers has to do with Portal 2, their own release, and I’m sure the same will happen when we finally get Half-Life 3 or some other awesome Valve developed game. Imagine how much of a difference Battlefield 3 could have made had it been available through Steam. I personally know a few gamers who boycotted it simply because it wasn’t coming to Steam. Very interesting!

  2. If I recall, Skyrim was the fastest-selling Steam game of all time. (TF2) Hats off to you, Gabe Newell.

  3. Very exciting to hear. Steam is my digital distribution of choice to its nice to see them succeed 🙂

  5. As one of the aforementioned “college kids” I had much to do after those sales. I never knew how good Rome: Total War was and at about two quid for it and Medieval 2 each I have a LOT of game for my money. Additionally, I picked up some old faves from when I was younger including the first two Red Factions. I’ve never played the first but I hear it’s great and while RF2 got a lot of hate, I still love it. Solid FPS action. THANK YOU STEAM! I’ll buy LOTS more when I move over to PC gaming proper!

  6. I’ve been praising Steam for a while, as well. Their sales are incredible. I picked up both Portals over their Holiday Sale (I’ve played them both but at $10 for Portal 2(!) and $5 for the first game, I couldn’t pass them up. I’ve had just as much fun playing them through again). I also picked up the Half-Life collection, which I’ve never played, aside from, on the Orange Box, getting stuck in Ravenholm on Half-Life 2 and giving up. I’ve already played through Half-Life and am well past Ravenholm in 2. Bastion for $5 was incredible (beat that one in one long day :), and again over the next few.) If not for their sales, I never would have played Amnesia or Torchlight, both great, addictive games, though I have trouble playing Amnesia since I get so scared. I can’t wait to play Dead Space 2, which I picked up for $5. While not on sale, I got The Witcher 2 on Steam, one of my contenders for GOTY.

    I could go on really. Just this year I started gaming on my PC, and thanks to Steam, I don’t see running out of things to do any time soon.

  7. @Skuba – if you’re interested, i got a free copy of Empire: Total War as one of my achievement prizes, but I already own it. It’s yours if you want it. Or anyone else for that matter.

  8. @ Supernovaforce, That’s a REALLY kind offer, but the last thing I need is another Total War game during exam time lol! 🙂

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