Steam surpasses 100 exabytes of game data downloads in 2024

Valve’s digital storefront Steam reached a staggering 100 exabytes of data downloads in 2024, a 20% increase from the previous year, according to newly released data. This monumental figure underscores the ever-growing scale of the gaming industry and the relentless appetite of players for ever-larger, more detailed game worlds.

The numbers paint a vivid picture of Steam’s dominance. That 100 exabytes equates to 100 million terabytes – a truly colossal amount of information. To put it in perspective, that's enough data to fill roughly 17.4 million Blu-ray discs.

The daily consumption is equally astounding: a staggering 274 petabytes (274,000 terabytes) are downloaded on average each day. This translates to 11,420 terabytes per hour or a mind-boggling 190 terabytes per minute. The growth has been exponential; in 2018, Steam delivered 15.9 exabytes, and by 2020, that number had jumped to 25.2 exabytes. The annual growth rate since 2020 has hovered around 30%.

This surge is driven primarily by the increasing size and graphical fidelity of modern games. The shift towards 4K and 8K textures, coupled with ever-more expansive game worlds, means that each new title is significantly larger than its predecessors. Adding to the data load is the steady stream of new games – over 20,000 are added to the platform each year.

While Steam boasts an impressive catalog of over 146,000 games and 200 million active users, the company maintains a lean workforce of around 350 employees. This translates to an average revenue per employee of $50 million annually, dwarfing figures at Microsoft ($6.5 million), Apple ($2.4 million), and Google ($1.9 million), according to Visual Capitalist. Average employee salaries reach around $1.2 million per year.

Despite its financial success, Valve’s hardware ambitions have hit a snag. The planned Steam Deck and Steam Frame launches in early 2024 were delayed due to a global shortage of RAM, exacerbated by its allocation to the artificial intelligence sector, and rising component costs. While the company remains committed to releasing these products this year, analysts are growing increasingly skeptical.

The question remains: can Valve successfully translate its software dominance into a thriving hardware business, or will the persistent supply chain issues continue to hamper its progress? The sheer volume of data flowing through Steam is a testament to its success, but it also highlights the challenges of scaling hardware production in a world grappling with resource constraints.