What Valve game makes the most money?
Dota 2 is the most successful game Valve has ever made.
Most of Valve's revenue comes from Steam, which controlled 50 to 70% of the market for downloaded PC games in 2011 and generated an estimated $3.4 billion in 2017.
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege – Ubisoft (2015)
- Battlefield 2042 – EA DICE (2021)
- Destiny 2 – Bungie (2019)
- Valheim – Iron Gate (2021)
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – Valve (2012)
- Grand Theft Auto V – Rockstar North (2015)
Valve starts by taking a 30% cut of game sales on Steam, the same percentage that Apple and Google take from their mobile app stores. (Microsoft's own policy change affects only PC games; it will maintain its existing 30% cut of digital Xbox games.)
1. | Dota 2 | $47,790,065.28 |
---|---|---|
2. | PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS Mobile | $21,331,765.90 |
3. | Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | $21,213,989.89 |
4. | Fortnite | $20,409,733.30 |
5. | Arena of Valor | $17,843,604.84 |
The only way for you to make actual money on Steam is to distribute original games on Steam Direct. Through this method, you will get paid depending on the revenue from your game sales. This will include even the in-game purchases.
The beloved developer made a name for itself with massive hits like Half-Life and Portal, but in recent years the studio has largely ceased production of new games.
The company is able to run vast economic experiments on its users. And, of course, Valve reaps recurring benefits when people spend money on in-game purchases in Team Fortress 2 and other titles. Valve's own games are the source of its incredible staying power — and that business model has now been totally validated.
Steam can support millions of gamers playing concurrently and nearly 30,000 games were available on it as of May 2022, according to its website. Valve was valued at $7.7 billion in May 2022 based on Bloomberg calculations and discussions with Michael Pachter, a Los Angeles-based analyst at Wedbush Securities.
For example, the top 200 apps generate on average $82,500 daily, while the top 800 apps generate around $3,500. Gaming apps also make around $22,250, while entertainment apps make $3,090 daily, so there is no way to firmly say how much an average app makes.
How do free games on Steam make money?
Sometimes free games have trading cards on Steam and the developer makes money whenever a trading trade is sold or traded.
The initial revenue split for sales on Steam is 70/30, meaning Steam takes 30% of sales and the remaining 70% goes to the developer. This split is further adjusted to 75/25 once a game has made over $10 million. And again to 80/20 when the game makes over $50 million.

How many copies has Elden Ring sold? Bandai Namco announced Elden Ring had sold 13.4 million copies worldwide in May 2022 and the game has definitely added more to that total in the two months that have passed since.
Valve's Ray Ueno stated he worked with Gabe Newell and their colleagues to develop the "guy in the logo" when they decided to call the company "Valve" around 1995-1996, and needed to develop the visual brand vocabulary to go along with it.
By default, the site takes a 10% cut from each sale, but the developer can choose how much money the site will get per purchase. The developer can set the lowest price for the game (including free), and the customer can pay above that minimum amount if they like the game they are purchasing.
Valve paid out over $10,000,000 for the digital goods last year to a community of only 661 creators, generating sizable sums for many of them.
CS:GO is a game that has a skin market considered to be for high rollers. Valve generates revenue from cases, keys, and transaction fees once placed on the market. According to Statista, Valve's most recent revenue announcement was back in 2018, and included a whopping 414 million U.S Dollars.
Valve, Steam's developer, takes a 30% cut from game sales. Valve's cut is lowered to 25% should a game earn $10 million and then 20% if it surpasses $50 million. 72% of Steam's game sales are from the platform, while the remaining 28% are from third parties.
Developer Riot Games earned $18.72 million in revenue from VALORANT Champions skins, sources told Upcomer, which means participating teams earned $585,000 for competing in the first global championship for VALORANT esports.