After growing rapidly in the past two years, the world’s leading PC gaming platform, Steam, is facing a sales and revenue drop.
According to data presented by Fair Betting Sites, Steam’s annual gaming revenue is expected to amount to $8.7bn in 2022, or $1.2bn less than a year ago.
Headwinds Cutting Down Revenue
In 2020 and 2021, the world’s largest PC gaming platform grossed $19.7bn from games sales, including platforms sales and microtransactions, according to Statista data. The boost happened due to COVID-19, next-gen consoles’ supply issues, and the record number of new game releases.
However, 2022 has challenged the entire gaming industry, and Steam is no exception. The recession cutting down consumer spending, game launch delays, availability of gen nine consoles, and the loss of revenue from one of the largest PC gaming markets, Russia, have all caused Steam’s gaming revenue to plunge.
Statista expects Steam’s annual gaming revenue to drop to $8.7bn this year, 13% less than in 2021 and 10% less than 2020. Platform sales will account for over two-thirds of total revenue, while in-game microtransactions make up the rest.
The negative trend will continue in 2023, with Steam’s gaming revenue dropping by another 6.6% to $8.2bn. Analysts expect Steam to start growing again in 2024 but at reduced rates. Statistics show the platform is expected to gross close to $8.5bn from games sales in 2024, or $1.5bn less than in 2021.
More than 10,000 New Releases Year-to-Date
Although the platform has seen its revenue drop this year, the number of new game releases remains high.
Steam initially launched just seven games in 2004, but this number has skyrocketed in the following years, reaching over 8,100 in 2018. The number of new releases continued rising and hit over 9,500 two years later. The SteamDB and Steam Spy data showed there were almost 10,400 new games on Steam last year, the highest annual number to date.
However, 2022 might set a new record with 10,097 releases in ten months, 500 more than in the same period a year ago.
