Steam
Steam is a digital storefront and community platform for PC games, created by Valve Corporation in 2003. Its all-time peak was 42.0 million concurrent users in January 2026, per SteamDB.
Industry: Digital game distribution | Location: Bellevue, United States | Founded: 2003
About Steam
Steam is a digital distribution service and storefront for PC games, operated by Valve Corporation. Valve describes it as a digital platform for thousands of creators and publishers. The Steam site lists nearly 30,000 games, text and voice chat, community hubs, live gameplay broadcasting, a Workshop for mods in nearly 1,000 games, a mobile app, Early Access, 28 languages and more than 100 payment methods across more than 35 currencies.
Valve says it created Steam in 2003 as a content distribution channel and that it works in Bellevue, Washington. Wikipedia reports that Valve was founded on 24 August 1996 in Kirkland, Washington, by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington, that Harrington sold his stake to Newell in 2000, that Steam was announced in March 2002 and that it launched on 12 September 2003. Valve's people page includes Newell, whose biography says he spent 13 years at Microsoft before founding Valve. Wikipedia lists him as president and Scott Lynch as chief operating officer.
Alongside the storefront, Valve offers Steamworks, a set of tools for developers and publishers. Its Steamworks page cites 132 million monthly active users and access to users in 250 countries, without dates. Valve's own games include Half-Life, released in 1998, Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2, and its hardware includes the Steam Deck, Valve Index, Steam Controller and Steam Link. Wikipedia says the Steam Deck began shipping in February 2022.
The Steam site showed 31.8 million users online when it was read in October 2026. According to Notebookcheck, SteamDB recorded an all-time peak of 42,042,778 concurrent users on 11 January 2026, above the record of more than 41 million set in October 2025.
Steam also appears in Gulf coverage. TechScoop reported on 1 October 2026 that Saudi operators Mobily, stc and Salam shared a 100 percent score for Steam download performance in a test by the Communications, Space and Technology Commission. On 28 July 2026 TechScoop reported that the Saudi studio Ash Games had a Steam wish list page live for its game Nomad, targeting a release in early 2027.
Leadership
- Gabe Newell, Co-founder and President, Valve Corporation
- Scott Lynch, Chief Operating Officer, Valve Corporation