Steam continues its unbelievable growth

The Steam digital distribution platform continues to see exponential growth.

Valve has reported on Steam's 2011 accomplishments, which showed 100 unit sales growth for the 7th year in a row. Steam disseminated 780 petabytes of data in 2011, a remarkably huge number.

During the year, the service grew to 40 million accounts, 1800 games and at one point had 5 million concurrent users.

In order to handle the data, Steam had to "more than double its service capacity and a new content delivery architecture was deployed to improve user download rates.

Concludes Valve:

Steam and Steamworks continues to evolve to keep up with customer and developer demands for new services and content. Support for in-game item trading prompted the exchange of over 19 million items. Support for Free to Play (FTP) games, launched in June, has spurred the launch of 18 FTP titles on Steam, with more coming in 2012. Looking forward, we are preparing for the launch of the Big Picture UI mode, which will allow gamers to experience Steam on large displays and in more rooms of the house.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 8 Jan 2012 0:32

xtago

What else can you expect when it's pretty much the place to get PC Games, and wiping out the game stores.

8.1.2012 03:55 #1

Notcow

Holy...760 petabytes? That's pretty incredible.

8.1.2012 04:14 #2

LordRuss

Uuugh... I wish I could begrudge them their success, as I have complained that I can't get their crap to work, so how is that they can't get any money from me? But yet, there they are...

http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

8.1.2012 12:58 #3

Mysttic

Quote:Uuugh... I wish I could begrudge them their success, as I have complained that I can't get their crap to work, so how is that they can't get any money from me? But yet, there they are... Agreed.

8.1.2012 14:16 #4

hearme0

Originally posted by LordRuss: Uuugh... I wish I could begrudge them their success, as I have complained that I can't get their crap to work, so how is that they can't get any money from me? But yet, there they are...
I am truly sorry to hear that. I have over 30 games from them (200+ dollars worth for 30 bucks in the past 3 weeks) and have not had two problems. Had one about a year ago with a game that was erroring out but fixed in minutes.

The only thing I don't like about Steam is the inability to re-sell games by SIMPLY deactivating off my account and letting someone else reactive on theirs..........but at 5 bucks for Brink and Metro 2033 as well as 15 for Rage......who really cares.

10.1.2012 11:12 #5

LordRuss

Originally posted by hearme0: .....but at 5 bucks for Brink and Metro 2033 as well as 15 for Rage......who really cares. I empathize greatly... Very cost effective & a great way to keep individuals from wanting to pirate games. I.e., $5 for a game that certainly doesn't cost $60. But when your (Steam/Valve) server service won't run on 2-3 machines in the household somethings wrong. Been my complaint for quite some time. Otherwise I would tout service as well..

Woo is me I suppose...

http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

10.1.2012 14:12 #6

the_hoolie

Lucky for you guys who live in the US.

With Steam in the EU Metro 2033 is $12, Brink is $25 and Rage is still full whack at $63.

We get the piss taken out of us all the time with software prices.

11.1.2012 16:44 #7

palwill

Originally posted by the_hoolie: Lucky for you guys who live in the US.

With Steam in the EU Metro 2033 is $12, Brink is $25 and Rage is still full whack at $63.

We get the piss taken out of us all the time with software prices. that sucks, why is that anyway? used to be a pirate then i found steam.

11.1.2012 17:24 #8

LordRuss

Originally posted by palwill: Originally posted by the_hoolie: Lucky for you guys who live in the US.

With Steam in the EU Metro 2033 is $12, Brink is $25 and Rage is still full whack at $63.

We get the piss taken out of us all the time with software prices. that sucks, why is that anyway? used to be a pirate then i found steam. Publishers still want to use the "import tariffs" & "delivery charges" & any other shipping fees shite that no longer applies to electronic delivery. It's exactly like walking on to a new car lot...

Dealer will tell you, "OK, I can throw in the fluid charge (radiator fluids, oil...) that's a $600 value, Scotchgard the seats so they don't get extra dirty - that's a $1800 value - but I'll knock that down to $500, you get all these crazy assed charges; when in fact - it comes with the car! The cocksucker is padding his commission! They HAVE to fill the oil! The Scotchgard is on the seats already for shipping so the nasty assed mechanics don't ruin the new upholstery. It's all in the design to get the car off the showroom the fastest & cheapest UP FRONT!

That's why American corporations LUST after over seas markets. They're especially pedophiles in Hollywood. They know culturally our crap doesn't translate, so ship it over anyway. George Lucas himself said that 60% of movie sales are made up in the foreign market. It's in the very raping that the_hoolie spoke of & grossly/half assed explained in the latter.

http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

12.1.2012 11:31 #9

palwill

hopefully that will change, because that is bulls***

12.1.2012 14:00 #10

vanarie

It looks like Steam is really going to strengthen the PC gaming market and the PC industry as a whole (hardware upgrades, etc). Being an old school PC gamer, I think this is great. I use it and I love it. The cloud sync feature it a little buggy, but overall it's a great experience.

It's also hilarious that in the early days, Steam walked into Mico$oft and asked them if they were interested in the idea, they said, "naaaaaaa, we'll pass". Just shows you how anti-visionary MS is. But this is a good thing. You know MS would eventually wreck Steam one way or another.

13.1.2012 09:46 #11

AfterDawn: News