It won't surprise anybody to learn that, between Steam and a trio of popular online games, Valve is making a lot of money. But how much? Is the Washington-based company, for instance, Scrooge-McDuck-swimming-pool-full-of-cash rich?
Market data firm SuperData claims that Valve made $730 million in 2014. The firm gave their estimates to The Know, and later reiterated them to Develop.
Their projections covered Steam and Valve's top three games: Dota 2, Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The three games were estimated to have brought in $400 million. Further, it was said that Steam took $1.5 billion in sales across 2014—with Valve's royalties from third-party sales calculated at around $330 million.
Valve, of course, have not released their own figures, and SuperData admit that their estimates are "conservative".
As for The Know's video—titled "Half-Life 3 Will Never Release, Here's Why"—many of its other claims have been called into question. Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw even refuted The Know's suggestion that Valve were afraid to make Half-Life 3. "Fear is the last thing that would ever drive a decision about what to work on," he wrote in an email to a concerned fan.
