Steam's new game revenue is 10x higher than it was 10 years ago, but only around 200 made more than $1 million in their first 30 days

Steam's 2024 review reveals a tenfold increase in new release revenue compared to 2014, yet only 2.6% of the 18,908 games released earned over $250,000 in their first month, highlighting the highly competitive and risky nature of game development.

Steam is making more money than ever, but before you go and develop your own game, you should know that only around 500 games made more than $250,000 in the month after their release, so not everyone is getting rich quick.

According to Steam's 2024 year in review which was just published, the company is now generating ten-times more revenue than it was in 2014 on new releases alone. The way it calculates new release revenue is by looking at the total figure in the 30 days after a game is launched on the platform, plus pre-order cash.

An important caveat to note is that only the first date a game is made available counts. So, when something launches into early access, the new release revenue is calculated in the following 30 days; the 1.0 release doesn't count as a new data point.

Obviously, many games have a long tail and keep generating income after their initial releases, but for studios with tight margins, it's a tough market. However, if you're a solo developer and you manage to make it into that top 500, you should consider yourself very successful.