Digital download platform Steam controls half to 70 per cent of the $4 billion market for downloaded PC games, according to a new report.
Steam is "tremendously profitable", Valve co-founder Gabe Newell revealed for a Forbes profile.
250 people work at the Half-Life and Portal maker and, Newell said, per employee Valve is more profitable than Google and Apple. "Various sources" value the company at $2 billion to $4 billion, Forbes reports.
Steam's impressive rise to the top of the PC download tree has been one of the videogame success stories of the past decade.
In October last year Valve announced Steam accounts had grown by 178 per cent year-on-year. Sales grew over 200 per cent and over 200 Steamworks games had been shipped.
There are over 30 million active Steam accounts, and over 1200 games available from the service. Over six million unique gamers access Steam each day.
According to Forbes, publishers earn a gross margin of around 70 per cent on Steam compared with 30 per cent via retail shops.