AI-rewritten: This is a summary of an article from Tom’s Hardware, rewritten by AI (Qwen, running locally) to make it easier to read. The facts come from the original article – read it for the full story.

---

Steam generated an estimated $1.7 billion in revenue for September 2026, marking its best performance ever according to Alinea Analytics. This represents a 13% increase compared to the previous record set in September 2025. The platform also recorded its strongest third quarter on record with an estimated $5.5 billion in revenue, a 12% rise from the same period last year. Consequently, Steam’s total estimated revenue for the first nine months of 2026 reached $16.5 billion, up from $14.5 billion during the corresponding period in 2025.

Among the top-grossing games on Steam last month, new intellectual property releases accounted for 20.5% of the revenue, while established IP made up 79.5%. This included 3.8% from remakes and remasters. Major titles like Wardogs contributed an estimated $86.9 million since its early-access launch on September 10, Onimusha: Way of the Sword brought in $30.4 million, and The Blood of Dawnwalker generated $26.9 million. Free-to-play games such as Counter-Strike 2, Apex Legends, PUBG, and Dota 2 alone produced nearly $168 million combined in September, which is almost 10% of Steam’s total estimated monthly revenue.

Steam is also approaching a new annual record for the number of game releases. As of October 1, the platform hosts 20,220 game releases from 2026, with another 1,156 titles scheduled to launch in October. If these launches proceed as planned, Steam would surpass the 21,268 games released in 2025. Despite soaring PC hardware costs, spending on PC games has not slowed down. Alinea estimates that Steam could potentially exceed $20 billion in annual revenue for the first time. The platform also supports handheld gaming through the Steam Deck and living-room gaming via the newly launched Steam Machine, while working to extend support for its gaming-focused operating system to more devices.