Steam owner Valve generates staggering $50 million per employee – report

Valve, the company behind Steam, is reportedly one of the most efficient companies in the world, generating nearly $50 million in revenue for every employee.

This level of productivity allows the gaming giant to generate more cash per person than tech titans like Google, Amazon, or Microsoft.

This efficiency stems from a surprisingly small workforce, with the company currently on track to generate up to $17 billion in revenue by 2025. The high figure is based on estimates by research firm Alinea Analytics, which suggested that the Steam platform alone has already generated $16.2 billion in revenue in 2025.

Valve’s small headcount is key to this per-employee revenue figure, as the average number of employees between 2012 and 2021 was estimated at around 350 people.

Accounting for its cuts on game sales and revenue from its own titles like Counter-Strike and Dota 2, Valve is estimated to have earned over $4 billion from Steam in 2025.

Why Valve is so profitable per employee

The roughly $50 million in revenue per employee significantly exceeds what other major companies bring in per head.

Valve make almost $50m per employee, generating revenues of $16.2b in 2025 according to Alinea Analytics

The company has an estimated total of 350 staff pic.twitter.com/jzTjPjHuCv

— Dexerto (@Dexerto) November 24, 2025

For comparison, Apple employees bring in roughly $2.4 million in revenue per head, while Meta (Facebook’s parent company) brings in just $1.9 million, per Tom’s Hardware.

Even a previous estimate for Microsoft’s gaming division showed that it brought in around $18 million per employee in the same year, which is less than half of Valve’s figure.

Valve has been transparent about its unique profitability, with its publicly available Handbook for New Employees explicitly stating, “Our profitability per employee is higher than that of Google or Amazon or Microsoft”.

Valve operates without traditional managers or C-suite executives, meaning owners like Gabe Newell can focus on long-term goals instead of short-term returns for shareholders, as it is a completely privately owned corporation.

This high profitability also translates to high compensation, with leaked data showing that Valve spent nearly $450 million on employee salaries, with a weighted average of over $1.3 million per employee. The company claims to have one of the best compensation packages in the industry.

Valve is known not just for its iconic games like Counter-Strike and Dota 2, but also for revolutionizing game purchasing through Steam and reviving handheld gaming with the Steam Deck.

They are also expected to release the Steam Machine in 2026 – but there are concerns it will be priced higher than rival consoles.