Developers Admit They Rely Too Much on Steam: 72% Call It a Monopoly
- Sagar Mankar
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
A new industry survey has found that 72% of game developers believe Valve’s Steam holds a monopoly over the PC gaming market.
The data comes from The State of PC Game Distribution report, conducted by Atomik Research in May 2025 and published by PC distribution platform Rokky.
Steam’s story began in 2003 as a launcher primarily for Valve’s own titles like Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2. But after opening its doors to third-party games in 2005, the platform rapidly evolved into a digital powerhouse. Two decades later, Steam isn’t just a storefront; it’s practically the home of PC gaming. And if you’ve been around long enough, you’ve seen how competitors like Origin, Uplay, Battle.net, and Epic Games Store have all tried (and struggled) to carve a piece of that massive market share.
According to the report, 306 industry executives across the UK and the U.S. were surveyed, with 77% hailing from studios of more than 50 employees, mostly AAA developers. A huge 72% of them agreed that Steam effectively holds a monopoly, while more than half admitted they rely too heavily on it to distribute their games.
Even though many studios use alternative stores alongside Steam, 48% have released games on Epic Games Store, and a smaller fraction on GOG (10%) and Itch.io (8%), none come close to Steam’s reach. It’s not hard to see why. With tens of millions of concurrent users online at any given time, Steam offers developers something no other platform can match: guaranteed visibility and a massive built-in audience. Skipping Steam can mean sacrificing a huge portion of potential sales.
To put it into perspective, leaked financial data shows how Valve’s revenue ballooned from about $100 million in 2009 to roughly $2 billion by 2021, all from commissions on game sales. That kind of growth explains why developers feel trapped in a love-hate relationship with the platform: it’s where the money is, but also where control is lost.
Still, there’s hope for more diversity. The study revealed that 80% of developers expect to use alternative channels alongside Steam within the next five years, with 75% predicting a 10% rise in revenue through marketplaces like Humble Bundle or Fanatical. Yet, many voiced concerns about the gray market, pricing control, and losing direct connection with their players.
As Rokky co-founder and CEO Vadim Andreev summarized, “PC game distribution is more varied, vast, and complex than it has ever been. New opportunities are everywhere – as are pitfalls and challenges.”
So, does Valve truly have a monopoly? From what we can see, most developers think so, and unless a major competitor disrupts the scene, Steam’s iron grip on PC gaming doesn’t seem to be loosening anytime soon.