Asia Dominates Global Steam Activity

Recent data suggests that Steam, Valve’s leading PC gaming platform, is seeing a gradual increase in traffic from Asian regions. According to information gathered by GameDiscoverCo through Steam’s publicly available 7-day global bandwidth map, Asia's share of global Steam traffic has grown over the past year. This trend, while not dramatic in percentage terms, reflects a broader shift in user engagement patterns on the platform.

Asia's Growing Share of Global Steam Activity

Between April 2024 and July 2025, the proportion of Steam traffic originating from Asia rose from 30.4 percent to 32.2 percent. Within this growth, China showed a slight increase from 25.6 percent to 26.1 percent. Japan’s share also rose, from 1.9 percent to 2.5 percent, and Taiwan increased from 0.8 percent to 1.0 percent. While these changes are incremental, they suggest an ongoing trend toward higher participation from players in the region.

Asia Dominates Global Steam Activity

Relative Declines in Western Markets

While Asia's share has grown, North America and Western Europe have experienced small proportional decreases. North America’s share fell from 23.4 percent to 22.8 percent, with the United States showing a minor decline from 20.6 percent to 20.4 percent. Western Europe’s share decreased more notably from 16.3 percent to 15.1 percent. These changes reflect a shift in proportional representation, though both regions still saw increases in total bandwidth consumption, indicating that overall engagement continues to grow even if the global share has slightly shifted.

Stability in Latin America, Russia, and Eastern Europe

Other regions, including Latin America, Russia, and Eastern Europe, have maintained relatively stable traffic patterns. Latin America recorded a minor increase from 7.7 percent to 7.9 percent. Russia remained steady at 6.1 percent, and Eastern Europe declined slightly from 4.5 percent to 4.2 percent. No single country in these regions showed significant changes, pointing to a consistent level of user activity over time.

Asia Dominates Global Steam Activity

Bandwidth Growth Reflects Rising Engagement

Although this analysis is based on bandwidth and not direct user or sales data, it still provides a general indication of regional engagement. Both China and the United States experienced significant increases in absolute bandwidth usage. In the United States, traffic rose from 255.9 petabytes in April 2024 to 404.8 petabytes in July 2025. China saw a larger increase, from 251.4 petabytes to 518.7 petabytes over the same period. These increases are likely influenced by a combination of larger game file sizes, lower bandwidth costs, and seasonal factors such as the summer holidays.

Asia Dominates Global Steam Activity

Steam’s Global Expansion and Implications for Developers

While not a definitive measure of purchasing behavior or user base, the bandwidth data serves as a useful reference point for understanding shifts in regional activity on Steam. The growing share of traffic from Asia indicates that the platform’s expansion is increasingly driven by users outside of its traditional Western strongholds. However, average spending per user in many Asian markets tends to be lower, which may affect overall revenue trends. For developers and publishers, this underscores the importance of considering regional preferences and economic factors when planning releases and marketing strategies.

Source: GameDiscoverCo