Steam Rakes In Almost $1 Billion in 2010

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Needless to say, Steam made big bucks in 2010. Will we go all digital in five years?

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Kevin Parrish
Kevin Parrish
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.

43 Comments Comment from the forums
  • applegetsmelaid
    Makes sense, I much prefer to sit on my ass and click download than have to endure the anguish of going to the store.
    Reply
  • _Pez_
    hahahaha Well said "applegetsmelaid" Hilarious ! ^.
    Reply
  • Some of these games are pretty abysmal. DOW2, COD, yikes.
    Reply
  • 4745454b
    The B&M stores only carry the big titles, and thats it. Not only does steam carry them as well, but they also carry many older and indie titles. Add in the sales that steam has, and there is little reason to even consider going to the stores. (I got L4D2 on new years eve for 66% off, or $6.80.)

    Edit: I forgot to mention perhaps the best part of steam. Put your steam folder on a different drive/partition then your OS, and you don't have to worry about losing your games when you reformat/upgrade windows. You can drag that steam folder around at will, and you don't have to stop and reinstall your games. I've moved my steam folder 3 times now, and you just double click steam.exe, it updates itself really quick, and you're back in business. I wish all my other games didn't need to be installed.
    Reply
  • icepick314
    Steam is great when they're on sale...

    some of the older titles go for under $10...

    and many go for 25% to 75% off as well...

    I picked so many games on last Christmas sale and some of the weekend deals past couple of months in 2011...

    last game I got was Penny Arcade Episode 1 and 2 for $3!
    Reply
  • anacandor
    And who said PC gaming was dead?
    Reply
  • icebug
    I about 160 games on steam and its just super nice to not have deal with putting the disk in the computer to install or worse PLAY the game. If I feel like playing something and it isn't installed yet I just hit download and go play something else for 30 minutes or watch a movie. I don't have to go searching around through storage to locate the case and then keep swapping disks or find that they are scratched beyond use and have to buy a new copy. It just makes sense. Then when you throw on support for in game chat as well as easy server joining with your friends its unbeatable.
    Reply
  • GNCD
    With those numbers, PC gaming will be around for a very long time. Got a little worried with all those articles and forum posts about it being dead or dying.
    Reply
  • Gamestop employees turned me to steam, with their attitudes and general retardedness. I never looked back. PLUS, with games on steam, I feel that the publishers take better care of their titles to provide updates to their games. I feel confident that if it's on steam, it's going to work.
    Reply
  • f4nt4sm4
    And the ability to download the game you own anytime you want and sometimes the price beat the crap out of stores. I'm looking at you Office Depot!!!
    Reply