If you’re Valve, 2026 has been a good year for the bank account, all thanks to the money Steam makes. According to new analysis, the PC storefront has made $15bn (~£11.10bn) already this year, representing Valve’s cut from selling games, DLC and software on its platform.
So what was Steam’s biggest revenue-generating new game release? That would be Forza Horizon 6, based on new Alinea Analytics data. The firm’s analysis shows the open-world racing game has generated an estimated $210.5m (~£155.74m) in revenue for Valve.
Horizon 6 is followed closely by another major 2026 hit, Crimson Desert, itself having brought Valve $203.3m (~£150.42m) in revenue. Rounding out to the top three is Resident Evil Requiem, which made Valve $200.9m (~£148.64m) in revenue.
According to Alinea analyst Rhys Elliott, the top six highest-grossing new releases on Steam only amounted to just $1bn (~£735.8m) of that $15bn, or just 6.6 percent. Incidentally, two games in the top six – Crimson Desert and Meccha Chameleon – come from new intellectual properties (IPs).
Expanding the scope further to include the top 100 highest-grossing new releases in 2026, we see the value grows to $2.4bn (~£1.78bn) or a more respectable 15.9 percent of the store’s overall revenue so far.
The data is skewed a little, however, as Crimson Desert is responsible for 18 percent ($203m) of the new IP revenue of that because of how successful it was. Take Crimson Desert out, and that 63 percent drops to just 39 percent.
There are plenty of upcoming, highly-anticipated releases yet left in 2026, however. Just last week we saw the release of two hits in Onimusha: Way of the Sword and The Blood of Dawnwalker. Gears of War: E-Day, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and Phantom Blade Zero are among the top games due later this year.
