Steam revenue reached an estimated $1.7 billion in September 2026, according to Alinea Analytics. That made it Steam’s best September to date, 13% above the previous September record set in 2025. Tom’s Hardware reports the same estimate, alongside Alinea’s $5.5 billion third-quarter total.
Steam revenue in September reached $1.7 billion, Alinea estimates
Alinea puts Steam’s gross revenue at $5.5 billion for July to September, up 12% year on year. For January to September, it estimates $16.5 billion, compared with $14.5 billion over the same nine months of 2025. These are estimates of gross transactions on the platform, not revenue reported by Valve as a company.
Alinea’s breakdown of the 500 highest-grossing games, which it says account for about three-quarters of September’s total, shows how revenue split between established and new intellectual property. Established IP generated 79.5% of revenue within that group, while new IP released in 2026 contributed 20.5%.
The report also puts free-to-play games at 25.6% of revenue among those 500 titles, despite making up 16% of the list. Counter-Strike 2, Apex Legends, PUBG and Dota 2 generated almost $168 million combined, which Alinea says was close to a tenth of all Steam revenue for September.
The premium-game ranking shows how established names and fresh releases shared the month’s top spots. Alinea’s estimated September revenue figures were:
| Premium game | Estimated September Steam revenue |
|---|---|
| Wardogs | $86.9 million |
| Onimusha: Way of the Sword | $30.4 million |
| The Blood of Dawnwalker | $26.9 million |
| Bodycam | $24.2 million |
| EA Sports FC 27 | $20.7 million |
| How to Fish | $19.3 million |
| Control Resonant | $12.7 million |
Wardogs launched in early access on 10 September and led the premium list by a wide margin. Onimusha: Way of the Sword and The Blood of Dawnwalker followed, both newly released in September. The ranking measures estimated Steam revenue for premium games; it is not a list of the platform’s most-played titles or a comparison of their sales across every platform.
What the September Steam estimate does and does not show
Alinea says Steam is on course to pass $20 billion in revenue for 2026, but the year-end figure remains a forecast. The September result is the platform’s best September, not proof that it set an all-time monthly revenue record. A previous Alinea estimate put Steam’s December 2025 revenue at $1.6 billion; tbreak covered that December result.
The platform’s audience provides another measure of its scale, although that is estimated separately from spending. Earlier tbreak coverage of Steam’s monthly users explained GameDiscoverCo analyst Simon Carless’s estimate of about 198 million monthly active users in late 2025 and a likely crossing of 200 million in 2026. That was an extrapolation from Steam’s EU user disclosure and bandwidth data, not a figure Valve announced.
Tom’s Hardware framed the revenue estimate against rising PC hardware costs. Alinea’s figures do not establish whether those costs changed game spending: the report estimates transactions and spending mix, rather than measuring hardware purchases or explaining the year-on-year increase. The global total also comes without a UAE breakdown, so it should not be read as a measure of spending by UAE players.
The data shows a record September supported by more than a single hit. New 2026 IP supplied a fifth of the top 500’s estimated revenue, established IP supplied most of it, and four free-to-play games alone approached a tenth of the platform-wide monthly total.
What would Steam need to earn in Q4 to pass $20 billion for 2026?
Using Alinea’s $16.5 billion estimate through September, Steam would need more than $3.5 billion in the final quarter to finish above $20 billion. That is an average of more than about $1.17 billion a month across October, November and December; it is a simple threshold calculation, not a separate forecast.
Is the 25.6% free-to-play figure a share of all Steam revenue?
No. It is 25.6% of the revenue attributed to the top 500 games, which Alinea says represented about three-quarters of September’s Steam total. The report does not give a precise free-to-play share for the full catalogue.
Are free-to-play downloads counted as revenue in the report?
No. The report describes gross revenue generated through Steam transactions, including free-to-play games. A free download has no purchase price; the reported revenue comes from transactions associated with those games, though Alinea does not provide a detailed transaction-type split.
How much top-500 revenue came from games released in 2026?
Alinea estimates games released in 2026 generated 33.6% of revenue among the top 500 highest-grossing Steam titles in September. Games released in 2025 contributed 8.7%, and 2024 releases contributed 9.3%. This release-year split is separate from the new-IP versus established-franchise split.
