Key Takeaways
1. Steam set a new record with over 42 million users online simultaneously, showcasing its strong market presence.
2. Steam achieved its most profitable month ever in December 2025, earning over $1.6 billion in revenue.
3. GOG’s new owner, Michał Kiciński, believes Steam’s success is due to its user-friendliness rather than the quality of games.
4. Kiciński views Steam’s 80% market share as both a challenge and an opportunity for GOG to gain market share.
5. GOG emphasizes a curated approach to game selection, focusing on quality over quantity, in contrast to Steam’s high-volume content strategy.
Steam is continuing to expand at an incredible rate. Recently, the platform set a new record by having over 42 million users online simultaneously, which highlights its strong position in the market. Additionally, Steam finished December 2025 with impressive financial results, raking in more than $1.6 billion in revenue, marking it as its most profitable month ever.
GOG’s Perspective on Steam’s Dominance
Michał Kiciński, the new owner of GOG, argues that Steam’s triumph isn’t really about the quality of the games it offers. He believes that its success mainly stems from its user-friendliness.
“Steam is winning because it’s easy to use. I reckon there’s a lot that can be improved at GOG without compromising our essential values and overall operations.”
Kiciński, who was instrumental in founding CD Projekt Red and departed from the studio in 2010, took over GOG in December 2025. In a recent discussion with Games Industry, he shared his thoughts on Steam’s 80% market share, which many view as a huge advantage. However, he perceives it differently, suggesting that having such a significant share might make it more challenging for Steam to maintain its market position over time.
Observations on Market Competition
Kiciński pointed out that he is aware of the struggles faced by other platforms while competing with Steam, citing Epic Games, which has invested significantly but has yet to make a real impact on Steam’s dominance. He views Steam as merely one major competitor and believes that taking market share from them should be easier due to their already large portion of the market.
“My outlook is more focused on opportunities than challenges, which is just how I am. I see tremendous potential for GOG to expand. Some may argue that having a competitor like Steam with 80% market share is a big hurdle, but for me, it’s quite the opposite. I think: ‘There’s just one big competitor, making it tough for them to defend their position because they already hold 80% of the market, so it should be simpler to gain ground.’”
GOG’s Curated Approach
Kiciński also subtly criticized Steam’s content release strategy, noting that the platform adds hundreds of games daily, many of which he feels lack quality. In contrast, he described GOG as a carefully curated platform, emphasizing its focus on selecting quality titles rather than just increasing quantity.
“GOG stands out because it’s a very curated platform. This is, in my opinion, one of our strengths: we don’t push out hundreds of games each day; instead, we focus on quality, which 95% of those titles really don’t meet.”
He further emphasized that GOG isn’t aiming to compete with Steam directly. Rather than “battling with Goliath,” his vision is to create a platform that represents something distinct. While he acknowledged that Steam does many things effectively, he questioned the current core mission of the platform.
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