"Steam users are averaging 274 petabytes of installs and updates per day," Valve stated in its recently published Steam Year in Review for 2025, a figure so staggering it required the company to put the number into smaller terms just to make it digestible. That works out to 11.42 petabytes per hour, or roughly 190,000 GB of data every single minute.
Steam's Download Numbers Are Almost Incomprehensible
Valve dropped its annual developer-focused Steam Year in Review report, and buried in the conclusion are some of the most jaw-dropping platform statistics the company has ever published. According to the report, Steam users collectively downloaded 100 exabytes of games and updates throughout 2025, up from approximately 80 exabytes in 2024. That represents a 25% year-over-year increase in data delivered to players.
For context: one exabyte equals 1,000 petabytes, or one quintillion bytes. Valve itself acknowledged the number is difficult to process, which is why the company broke it down into daily and hourly figures.
Steam 2025 download figures
Putting the Numbers in Perspective
Here's the thing: 100 exabytes is a unit of measurement typically reserved for estimating total global internet traffic. According to Wikipedia, storing a single exabyte would require approximately 250,000 high-end home PCs. Steam delivered 100 of them worth of game data last year alone.
The daily breakdown makes it slightly easier to grasp:
- 274 petabytes of installs and updates delivered per day
- 11.42 petabytes per hour
- ~190,000 GB of data per minute
What most players miss is just how much of that volume comes from updates and patches, not just fresh installs. Every background update to your library, every day-one patch, every hotfix counts toward that running total.
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An exabyte equals 1,000 petabytes or one quintillion bytes. It's a data scale typically used to measure entire internet traffic volumes, not individual platform metrics.
Platform Growth Driving the Surge
Steam's concurrent user numbers tell a parallel story. The platform crossed 25 million peak concurrent users for the first time five years ago. Since then, Valve reports growth of approximately 3.4 million additional concurrent users per year, bringing the current peak to 42 million concurrent users.
More users means more downloads, more updates, and more bandwidth. The key here is that this growth appears consistent rather than driven by any single title or event, pointing to steady platform expansion rather than a one-time spike.
Steam concurrent user growth
Developer Revenue Also Climbing
The Year in Review wasn't solely about download figures. Valve also reported that developer revenue payouts reached record levels in 2025. The platform's tiered revenue share system, introduced in 2018, offers developers 75% or 80% cuts depending on total sales thresholds.
According to the report, the revenue share paid out across all non-Valve games on Steam in 2025 averaged 76%. That figure excludes any revenue developers earn from selling free Steam keys outside the platform, meaning actual developer earnings are likely higher in practice.
The figures arrive as Valve co-founder Gabe Newell reportedly took delivery of a new $500 million superyacht at the close of 2025, a vessel reported to include a submarine garage, an on-board hospital, and 15 gaming PCs.
Source: Tech Yahoo
Make sure to check out our articles about top games to play in 2026:
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Best First-Person Shooters for 2026
Best PlayStation Indie Games for 2026
Best Multiplayer Games for 2026
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How much data did Steam users download in 2025?
According to Valve'sSteam Year in Review, Steam users downloaded 100 exabytes of games and updates in 2025, up from 80 exabytes in 2024.
What is an exabyte?
An exabyte is a unit of digital data equal to 1,000 petabytes or one quintillion bytes. Storing a single exabyte would require roughly 250,000 high-end home PCs.
How many concurrent users does Steam have?
Valve reports that Steam reached 42 million peak concurrent users, growing at a pace of approximately 3.4 million additional concurrent users per year over the past five years.
