Although Steam is a Giant, Valve is Smaller Than Many AAA Developers. The Company Employs Surprisingly Few People
From documents linked to Valve's lawsuit by the Wolfire Games studio, we learned how many employees are hired by the owner of Steam. The number is surprisingly small.
A few years ago, we informed you about a lawsuit brought by Wolfire Games studio against Valve. It accused the corporation of monopolistic practices, which were alleged to be harmful to both publishers and consumers. Documents related to this matter have now come to light, from which we learned how many employees the owners of Steam employ. It turns out that this is a surprisingly small number.
Information provided by the website The Verge contains a list showing how the number of employees and salaries in individual Valve departments have changed from year to year. The latest data pertains to 2021, and it is as follows:
- administrative positions - 35 people;
- games - 181 people;
- department associated with Steam - 79 people;
- hardware - 41 people.
In total, we have 336 employees, but it's interesting that despite Steam regularly breaking activity records, Valve isn't expanding at all. In 2012, there were already 351 people working there, so this number has actually decreased. The employees most closely associated with games are also worth noting, as they make up the largest group in the company. Valve's infrequent release of new titles may come as a surprise.
For comparison, this is roughly how the number of employed people looks among other large companies in the gaming industry:
- Ubisoft - 19,100 people;
- Electronic Arts - 13,700 people;
- Microsoft Gaming - 20,100 people;
- Sony Interactive Entertainment - 12,700 people;
- CD Projekt Red - 1236 people;
- Larian Studios - 470 people.
It's clear that comparing Valve to a giant like Microsoft is pointless, but, surprisingly, the owners of the massive Steam platform employ fewer people than, for instance, Larian studio.
