Valve continues to pretty much print money, and they've released their latest yearly review and 2023 seems to be another great year for Steam.
This time around, they didn't give all that many details on Steam's overall growth. We didn't get notes on monthly or daily active users like we've seen in the past. And most of the post is simply going over features they added for users and developers during 2023. Still, they did give a few details on that and what they showed was still really surprising.
One of those surprising marks is physical wallet cards, which Valve said during December 20th to December 31st, 2023 that "players redeemed more than $80 million in physical wallet cards". That's a whole lot of gifting going on! Valve also said these physical cards are "some of the most expensive payment methods we support" but the benefits are clear for both developers and Steam users.
Valve also showed one element of their growth with a comparison of the Steam Autumn Sale between 2022 and 2023 showing many developers managing to find success. With a 21% increase in the amount of games earning over $1M in revenue.
| Steam Autumn Sale | Increase from 2022 to 2023 |
| Games over $1K Revenue | +19% |
| Games over $10K Revenue | +17% |
| Games over $100K Revenue | +17% |
| Games over $500K Revenue | +19% |
| Games over $1M Revenue | +21% |
Another big note is that 2023 was the first year in the entire history of Steam where over 500 games earned more than $3 million in gross revenue in one year, Valve said this was more than double the number of games hitting it versus 2018.
It's not just existing and well-known developers doing well though. As Valve notes with their Top 20 game releases each month by revenue that in 2023 more than a quarter of them were from studios releasing on Steam for the very first time.
2023 was also the year that Steam crossed over 33 million concurrent users for the first time!
See the full post on Steam.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Quoting: PenglingQuoting: EikeAvailable at about every second store here in Germany.Lucky! Over here, you see cards for all of the consoles, then the Apple and Google mobile stores, and then a few cards to encourage children to go for microtransactions in titles like Minecraft and Roblox, but no Steam ones at all.
Same, are you in Canada by chance? Last time I found a Steam gift card was over a year ago at Walmart and it was tucked away in the very back corner of the games isle, not on any of the other half dozen gift card racks throughout the store.
Last December I went looking for one again and couldn't find a single one anywhere. I asked at Walmart and they told me I wouldn't be able to find any anywhere because they had all been pulled off the shelves to prevent "payment in gift card scams".
It makes zero sense because as you said every other digital store front has their gift cards readily available for purchase, EA, Ubisoft, Roblox, Fortnight, Apple, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Disney+, everything except Steam.
I have 2 theories about the real reason because it's clearly not to prevent scam payments.
1. Steam contains a lot of pornographic content and selling a Steam gift card to a minor is kind of the same as selling them a license to porn.
2. Valve is not a publicly traded company like all the other gift card sellers and doesn't conform to ESG as far as I know.
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Quoting: PenglingI don't think we've even got any of the ones shuffled off into a Sports Direct store. (I honestly don't think that GAME is long for this world, at this point, but that's another matter.)
Oh my god, is this a country-wide thing? GAME shuffled into our Sports Direct too. In fact, there even was a GAME sign right next to the Sports Direct sign too until that also got taken down.
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Quoting: WYWSame, are you in Canada by chance?As noted above, I'm in the UK.
Quoting: WYWI asked at Walmart and they told me I wouldn't be able to find any anywhere because they had all been pulled off the shelves to prevent "payment in gift card scams".I briefly wondered the same about over here, but if watching tons of scambaiting videos has taught me anything, it's that the scammers don't really care too much what kind of card it is at the end of the day, so I agree that it doesn't make sense; They seem to ask for Apple and Google cards more than anything (making it all the more hilarious when the likes of Kitboga set up fake pages to make it look like they're redeeming cards on those sites
It makes zero sense because as you said every other digital store front has their gift cards readily available for purchase, EA, Ubisoft, Roblox, Fortnight, Apple, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Disney+, everything except Steam.
), and nobody seems to have any trouble carrying those.Quoting: WYWI have 2 theories about the real reason because it's clearly not to prevent scam payments.Roblox has that as one of its major problems (y'know, outside of exploiting child-labour to make megaprofits), and that's not exactly a secret to anybody, and there's also adult content on the platforms and services these outfits sell cards for, so I'm going to guess it's not that, somehow...
1. Steam contains a lot of pornographic content and selling a Steam gift card to a minor is kind of the same as selling them a license to porn.
Quoting: WYW2. Valve is not a publicly traded company like all the other gift card sellers and doesn't conform to ESG as far as I know.... But I do wonder if it's something along these lines, though!
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Quoting: PyreticOh my god, is this a country-wide thing? GAME shuffled into our Sports Direct too. In fact, there even was a GAME sign right next to the Sports Direct sign too until that also got taken down.It is, yup. I don't think they even bothered to put them in Sports Direct where I am, but I know it's the case pretty much everywhere else. Also, as of the last few weeks, they no longer take trade-ins, so they're now basically just a Funko Pop! tat-bazaar inside a chain that a gamer simply wouldn't be likely to think they'd find a game store within. (I'm not sure what the House of Fraser group, who now owns GAME, was even thinking here - I assume they were equating all gamers to buyers of EA's FIFA-licensed games and assumed that people would understand putting a video game store inside a sports shop? With my taste in gaming, it certainly doesn't compute, though!)
So much for "Letting them buy their only competitor is fine because you can buy FIFA and Disney shovelware at Asda, so there's adequate competition in the marketplace.", eh? No specialist game-stores anywhere where I am (GAME drove the independents out of business long ago), and now I can't even buy physical download-cards for a digital service in either a games-shop or a supermarket.
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StoneColdSpider Feb 21
Quoting: PenglingAm I the only person who can't even find the physical wallet cards anywhere? All of the places that they list as UK stockists don't seem to actually carry them!Same here in Aus...... Even EB No Games doesnt have physical Steam wallet cards you can buy online..... I doubt they would have any in their shoeboxed sized stores filled with Pop! Vinyls and other "gaming" tat......
Like so many geeks, I'm frequently told that I'm difficult to get gifts for on traditional gift-giving occasions (and I always say they don't need to worry about it, and on it goes
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StoneColdSpider Feb 21
Quoting: HighballThat would be nice. My Sisters just buy me gift cards to Subway, the sandwich place. It really feels like a punishment at this point. If I got a Steam gift card I'd probably fall over in shock.You can use Subway Gift Cards to buy games......
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Quoting: StoneColdSpiderHeh. I saw "vinyls" and I thought "What do old LP records have to do with gaming?" Then I followed the link and . . . oh.Quoting: PenglingAm I the only person who can't even find the physical wallet cards anywhere? All of the places that they list as UK stockists don't seem to actually carry them!Same here in Aus...... Even EB No Games doesnt have physical Steam wallet cards you can buy online..... I doubt they would have any in their shoeboxed sized stores filled with Pop! Vinyls and other "gaming" tat......
Like so many geeks, I'm frequently told that I'm difficult to get gifts for on traditional gift-giving occasions (and I always say they don't need to worry about it, and on it goes
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thelimeydragon Feb 22
Quoting: PenglingQuoting: finaldestFor UK retailers,Alas, I'm clearly not meant to find the bloody things - all of the local branches of GAME shut up shop ages ago, too. I don't think we've even got any of the ones shuffled off into a Sports Direct store. (I honestly don't think that GAME is long for this world, at this point, but that's another matter.)
You can get steam PS5 and MS gift cards in GAME stores by purchasing at the till. You get a code printed on a till receipt for the value purchased.
Quoting: finaldestI have seen them in some of the supermarkets also at the checkouts.I wish I could find them, hahaha!
Quoting: HighballThat would be nice. My Sisters just buy me gift cards to Subway, the sandwich place. It really feels like a punishment at this point. If I got a Steam gift card I'd probably fall over in shock.I think I would too, as I'm convinced that they're like Leprechauns or something.
Currys, Lidl, Argos all had them last time I looked in December.
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Quoting: thelimeydragonCurrys, Lidl, Argos all had them last time I looked in December.Thanks very much - I'll take a look the next time I'm by any of those!
I certainly wouldn't've thought to check Lidl, though I suppose who could argue with a fresh pretzel and a Steam card?
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