Steam Closes 2011 with 100% Sales Growth, 5 Million Simultaneous Users

[btarunr]

Valve today announced the 2011 growth data for Steam, a leading platform for PC & Mac games and digital entertainment. During 2011 the platform grew to offer over 1,800 games to over 40 million accounts. Year-over-year unit sales increased by more than 100% for the seventh straight year, and during the 2011 Holiday Sale Steam's simultaneous user number eclipsed the 5 million player mark.

Meanwhile Steam doubled the amount of content delivered in 2011 vs. 2010, serving over 780 Petabytes of data to gamers around the world. To meet the increasing demand for games and services on the platform, the Steam infrastructure more than doubled its service capacity and a new content delivery architecture was deployed to improve user download rates.

Over 14.5 million copies of Steamworks games were registered during the year, a 67% increase over 2010. Steamworks titles shipped during 2011 include The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution , and more. Since the suite of services was released three years ago, Steamworks has shipped in over 400 games.

"Steam and Steamworks continues to evolve to keep up with customer and developer demands for new services and content," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "Support for in-game item trading prompted the exchange of over 19 million items. Support for Free to Play (FTP) games, launched in June, has spurred the launch of 18 FTP titles on Steam, with more coming in 2012. Looking forward, we are preparing for the launch of the Big Picture UI mode, which will allow gamers to experience Steam on large displays and in more rooms of the house."

[qubit]

I knew Valve was successful, but wow!

[mcloughj]

Yep, PC gaming is dead alright....

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

I was one of those who were skeptic on steam on its first few months, but man this thing is becoming huge. Id definitely invest on this while its still in its semi early form.

I can envision valve having more plans for it.

[radrok]

I hated Steam on its first incarnation, but then I realized it was more a benefit than a hassle, all your games are there and if you want to play something old you know you can find it

[trickson]

I guess people are seeing that PC are far better than there consoles for gaming . PC's are NOT dead !!!

[1Kurgan1]

Like I have said, Steam almost single handedly revitalized PC gaming.

[ERazer]

you're welcome STEAM!

[brandonwh64]

I remember when steam came out and my clan boycotted it and kept playing CS1.5 until it was completely shut down (WAN went away). Then I downloaded and added HL to my account which they gave me EVERY ADD ON at the time!

[Saidrex]

Oh, stupid Steam. How i hate it. Best games are not available for my region and prices are strange. Like one game i thought to buy, it cost 59,99$ for others but 59,99euro for european countries. Why 59,99euro? Both currencies are uneven, so convert 59,99euro to $ and we get 75$. So because i live in europe i have to pay extra 15$ for same game? What lame system they have.

[Volkszorn88]

Would be so freaking awesome as a tolken of their appreciation and just an over all thank you to customers if they gave 1 free game from people's wish list.

[GLD]

I got me a copy of CS Condition Zero during the holiday sale. I have been eyeing it for years. Figured for $2.50 I might as well take the plunge. lol. Seriously though, I have gifted many games due to the convenience of Steam. Steam rocks!

[TheMailMan78]

They also added Steam to the PS3. That didnt hurt sales ether.

[_JP_]

Originally Posted by btarunr

during the 2011 Holiday Sale Steam's simultaneous user number eclipsed the 5 million player mark.

Yeah, thanks to coal farmers.

[radrok]

Originally Posted by _JP_

Yeah, thanks to coal farmers.

But you have to admit that they are geniuses by implementing such achievements
Your avatar tells me you have played TF2, so you know that Valve did a fortune with the TF2 shop so it doesn't impress me that they can pull off such money magnets strategies

[tigger]

I wonder who the oldest steam member is on tpu, I joined in 2004.

[DigitalUK]

yea piracy is out of control same with movies yet every year they make more and more.

[_JP_]

Originally Posted by radrok

Your avatar tells me you have played TF2

My avatar should say that, as an engineer, I also like sandviches.
But whatever, yes the Mann-co. is a money magnet but coal farmers took advantage of the Humble Indie Bundle, bought hundreds of games for almost nothing and created all those accounts just to farm coal. So that whole "achievement" was better thought-out in the summer sale rather then the Christmas sale. And the coupons aren't exactly a money saver.

[Munki]

Go Steam!

[brandonwh64]

Originally Posted by Saidrex

Oh, stupid Steam. How i hate it. Best games are not available for my region and prices are strange. Like one game i thought to buy, it cost 59,99$ for others but 59,99euro for european countries. Why 59,99euro? Both currencies are uneven, so convert 59,99euro to $ and we get 75$. So because i live in europe i have to pay extra 15$ for same game? What lame system they have.

This is what proxies are for

[Wrigleyvillain]

Originally Posted by tigger

I wonder who the oldest steam member is on tpu, I joined in 2004.

Yeah me too...and I actually just assumed I was one of the first users until earlier this year when I noticed the client was actually first released in 2003. But there was really not much reason to use it before HL2 came out which is when I ended up finally doing so along with millions of others, I was reminded after thinking about it.

Yeah I bet they were having a pretty big year even before Skyrim dropped. And those Great Gift Pile objectives was an ingenious way to surely sell a bunch of lower-end cheap games during the sale that would have sold pretty well anyway at those prices and with all those bored users on break.

[makwy2]

Yay! If steam keeps the sales and offers coming I'll keep shopping there.. if they start getting arrogant it will be onto the next distributor.

[Crap Daddy]

What Steam is doing is the best way to fight piracy. I think during a year from launch date there isn't a game that can't be had for around/under 10 Euro/dollars. Maybe except COD but that's Activision there. The same model should be adopted in music and movies.

[Wrigleyvillain]

Originally Posted by Crap Daddy

What Steam is doing is the best way to fight piracy.

Indeed. Sometimes the simplest way is the best put.

[twicksisted]

Dosent really surprise me to be honest... with the current financial crisis, expensive petrol and high inflation, people are probably just saving money and spending less by entertaining themselves at home.
(Games are a form of excaping reality and cheaper and safer than drugs )