Valve Revealed the Surreal Amount of Data Downloaded via Steam (and It’s Terrifying)

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In its 2025 Steam Year in Review, Valve revealed that users downloaded a staggering 100 exabytes of data from the platform, including games and updates. To put this figure in perspective, one exabyte equals one million terabytes, enough to fill approximately 250,000 high-end home computers. Valve also detailed the daily data load on its servers, which averaged: 274 petabytes (274,000 terabytes) of downloads per day 11.42 petabytes transferred per hour Approximately 190,000 gigabytes of data downloaded per minute This 100-exabyte total represents a 25% increase from the 80 exabytes delivered in 2024. Valve attributes this surge to two primary factors: its growing user base and the increasing size of modern games. In 2025, Steam reached a record of 42 million concurrent players, a significant increase from the 25 million recorded in 2020. The increasing demand for data is also due to AAA titles routinely exceeding 100GB and live-service games requiring frequent, substantial updates. The Steam Year in Review also featured a list of games published by Valve Software, including: Sid Meier’s Civilization V and Sid Meier’s Civilization IV Portal, Half-Life 2, and Team Fortress 2 Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Left 4 Dead 2 and Left 4 Dead Half-Life: Alyx Artifact Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and Cities: Skylines Phasmophobia and Garry’s Mod Street Fighter 6 Arena Breakout: Infinite Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Lost Ark, and Banana Factorio Diablo IV MIR4 OBS Studio Peak Schedule I Some of the developers behind these games include Obsidian Entertainment, Paradox Interactive, and Psyonix. Valve Corporation is the parent company of Valve Software. Several of these games have the following release dates: Garry’s Mod (2006) Left 4 Dead (2008) Left 4 Dead 2 (2009) Sid Meier’s Civilization V (2010) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (2012) Dota 2 (2013, after beta since 2009) Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2013) Cities: Skylines (2015) Artifact (2018) Phasmophobia (2020) Half-Life: Alyx (2020) Arena Breakout: Infinite (July 26, 2022) Banana (projected August 31, 2022) Diablo IV (June 6, 2023)

Steam Year in Review Highlights Growth and Dominance in PC Gaming Landscape

The Steam Year in Review also mentioned Gabe Newell appearing on a yacht in a promotional video, the availability of Deponia on Steam, Meta’s legal stance on book piracy, a new Harlem Globetrotters game, Microsoft’s commitment to Xbox, and layoffs at EA despite Battlefield 6’s successful launch. The Steam Year in Review highlights the platform’s continued growth and dominance in the PC gaming landscape.

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While we’re still abuzz with excitement over the latest cloud gaming developments, let us direct you towards Marcus Thompson’s recent revelation over at Players for Life. In his March 11th piece, ‘Microsoft Reveals First Images of New Xbox Console’, he spills the beans on Project Helix – the upcoming hybrid console that promises to run both Xbox and PC games with unmatched performance. Don’t miss out on being among the first to catch a glimpse of this mysterious new hardware through Thompson’s exclusive images from GDC: Microsoft Reveals First Images of New Xbox Console. Meanwhile, Carlos Mendoza has been tinkering with Samsung’s newest AI phones in his latest piece, “4 Ways to Expand What’s Possible with Your Smartphone in the Galaxy S26 Line” (published on March 11, 2026). Dive into the innovative features like privacy screens and smart photo editing that promise to enhance your daily smartphone experience: 4 Ways to Expand What’s Possible with Your Smartphone in the Galaxy S26 Line. And finally, Ahmed Hassan’s latest piece on Pokémon Pokopia is sure to inspire your inner creator. Published just this March 10th, “Built Arceus in Pokemon Pokopia” showcases some truly mind-blowing constructions, with one player spending over 20 hours creating a monumental Arceus that you won’t want to miss: Built Arceus in Pokemon Pokopia.