Valve continues to pretty much print money, and they've released their latest yearly review and 2023 seems to be another great year for Steam.
This time around, they didn't give all that many details on Steam's overall growth. We didn't get notes on monthly or daily active users like we've seen in the past. And most of the post is simply going over features they added for users and developers during 2023. Still, they did give a few details on that and what they showed was still really surprising.
One of those surprising marks is physical wallet cards, which Valve said during December 20th to December 31st, 2023 that "players redeemed more than $80 million in physical wallet cards". That's a whole lot of gifting going on! Valve also said these physical cards are "some of the most expensive payment methods we support" but the benefits are clear for both developers and Steam users.
Valve also showed one element of their growth with a comparison of the Steam Autumn Sale between 2022 and 2023 showing many developers managing to find success. With a 21% increase in the amount of games earning over $1M in revenue.
| Steam Autumn Sale | Increase from 2022 to 2023 |
| Games over $1K Revenue | +19% |
| Games over $10K Revenue | +17% |
| Games over $100K Revenue | +17% |
| Games over $500K Revenue | +19% |
| Games over $1M Revenue | +21% |
Another big note is that 2023 was the first year in the entire history of Steam where over 500 games earned more than $3 million in gross revenue in one year, Valve said this was more than double the number of games hitting it versus 2018.
It's not just existing and well-known developers doing well though. As Valve notes with their Top 20 game releases each month by revenue that in 2023 more than a quarter of them were from studios releasing on Steam for the very first time.
2023 was also the year that Steam crossed over 33 million concurrent users for the first time!
See the full post on Steam.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: PenglingQuoting: EikeAvailable at about every second store here in Germany.Lucky! Over here, you see cards for all of the consoles, then the Apple and Google mobile stores, and then a few cards to encourage children to go for microtransactions in titles like Minecraft and Roblox, but no Steam ones at all.
Just bought one this morning. No many stores that have them in The Netherlands. And apparently they're not considered very interesting because I had to check behind the other gift cards to find them.
Quoting: PenglingNo specialist game-stores anywhere where I amThis. This is the part that infuriates me. The only UK store now that sells games is CeX and a few niche shops that close down within a year. It's utterly bizarre. Add that to the fact that, since my Sports Direct no longer advertised GAME, I genuinely forgot that it even existed until I found out GAME is on the third floor. The third floor! It's like they're trying to hide away!
Quoting: PyreticThis. This is the part that infuriates me.You and me both!
Gonna show my age here, but I can remember when you could get games from everywhere from your local newsagent to WH Smith to Toys 'R' Us AND had all the specialist stores (nationwide and independent) in between. And there were the likes of Dixons, Currys, and so on, who were never first choice, but tended to offer really good deals if you were making a big purchase like a console*.
*When I bought my Nintendo 64 back in 1997, the system was notorious for having had numerous sudden price-drops since launch. Dixons was willing to promise me that it wouldn't happen, and when it went down again by £50 literally two days later, one phone-call later and their response was a cheerful "You were the one who picked up Mario Kart with it, right? Drop by the store and choose an extra controller!" (which I think were about £35?), which they were in no way obligated to do. Kept me as a customer for many years.
Quoting: PyreticThe only UK store now that sells games is CeX and a few niche shops that close down within a year.Yep, it's pretty dreadful. I have a good CEX locally, but I know that they're a VERY variable chain.
Quoting: PyreticIt's utterly bizarre. Add that to the fact that, since my Sports Direct no longer advertised GAME, I genuinely forgot that it even existed until I found out GAME is on the third floor. The third floor! It's like they're trying to hide away!I wouldn't be surprised by that in the slightest. Have you seen the sorry state of their website? Word has it that the high-ups got a good deal with Hasbro, so it's mainly like an online-store for Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Dungeons & Dragons - all stuff that you just wouldn't go to a video games shop for.
I reckon they're just trying to get it over with and bury them already, at this point.
As an aside, the Hasbro issue really bugs me - collecting video game merchandise is my thing, and there's so much out there and available in this geographical region, and they're not inking deals to sell it!
Last edited by Pengling on 22 February 2024 at 2:05 pm UTC
Quoting: PenglingYep, it's pretty dreadful. I have a good CEX locally, but I know that they're a VERY variable chain
Yep, hot tip: don't go there for hardware. I've heard mixed results: some friends say it's as good as brand new, others say that it's hot garbage. Since they buy what anyone sells, I guess the wide range of quality makes sense but there's not even any quality assurance to let you know if what you're buying is worth it.
Quoting: PenglingHere, have this link to make it better.Oh gosh! I had no idea that was a thing.
I would be real tempted if they had the art of rally soundtrack on vinyl!
Quoting: PyreticYep, hot tip: don't go there for hardware. I've heard mixed results: some friends say it's as good as brand new, others say that it's hot garbage. Since they buy what anyone sells, I guess the wide range of quality makes sense but there's not even any quality assurance to let you know if what you're buying is worth it.Yeah, I've heard mixed results too! I'd probably trust the local one as long as a unit didn't look totally beaten-up, because I know they really know their stuff in there and actually do refurbish stuff (and I've sold stuff to them myself - that was where I went when I ditched the Switch and all of my cartridges for it), but there's another one a bit further afield that I wouldn't even dare to go near!
Quoting: Purple Library GuyOoo! Some of the albums are purple!And one of them is the soundtrack to Bomberman Hero, which was a big showcase of the N64's audio capabilities, in its day.
Quoting: whizseOh gosh! I had no idea that was a thing.Fangamer are really responsive to what people are after - it's always worth dropping them a line to see if they plan on carrying certain things.
I would be real tempted if they had the art of rally soundtrack on vinyl!
They're one of my favourite merch-stores (I particularly like their Yume Nikki, Pizza Tower, and Stardew Valley lines, and they've done great stuff based on Bomberman, Metal Gear Solid, Goemon, and a bunch of others) - the only downside is that they're a small company and therefore sometimes have fulfillment delays, though they're always announced at the top of the site.
Granted, I don't know if Steam is stealing revenue from other outlets or if the gamer market is truly more lucrative.
Quoting: thelimeydragonCurrys, Lidl, Argos all had them last time I looked in December.
Quoting: PenglingThanks very much - I'll take a look the next time I'm by any of those!I just wanted to post a quick follow-up to this: Thanks so much, thelimeydragon! I had a chance to look around, and they are indeed found in Lidl, of all places!
Thankyou again!
Quoting: PenglingI just wanted to post a quick follow-up to this: Thanks so much, thelimeydragon! I had a chance to look around, and they are indeed found in Lidl, of all places!
Cool! I made a photo in the local supermarket to brag to you, but I guess that won't work anymore now. :D
The Steam cards were strewn on the floor of the sales display though, while the others were nicely hung at their place, so I guess Steam is considered second class.
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