Valve more profitable per head than Google or Apple

Written by Joe Martin

February 14, 2011 | 11:08

Tags: #forbes #industry #profit #sales-figures

Companies: #apple #google #steam #valve

Valve's digital distribution platform, Steam, is said to control between 50 and 70 per cent of the entire downloadable PC games market, which has been valued at $4 billion USD, according to reports.

Speaking to Forbes as part of a company profile, Newell said that Valve was 'tremendously profitable', though he wouldn't offer specific figures. As a private company, Valve doesn't release financial reports publicly either.

However, Newell did reveal that Valve's 200 per cent year-on-year growth and relatively small headcount of 250 employees made the company more profitable per employee than either Google or Apple.

Forbes claims various sources have valued Valve at between $2 billion and $4 billion USD, with an estimated 2010 revenue in the 'high hundreds of millions'. An earlier story from 2005 has Valve grossing $70 million, with a $55 million profit.

Of course, if you think that's impressive then you should check out the lifetime sales for the original Half-Life.

Steam's success if attributed mainly to the convenience it offers players, as well as the competitive pricing for publishers. On Steam publishers earn a gross margin of 70 per cent, compared to the 30 per cent offered at retail stores.

Steam now has over 30 million active Steam account and sells over 1200 games, with six million unique players logging in every day.

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