Valve paid $57 million to users who make and sell content on Steam
04 Feb 2015 • engadget.comJust how lucrative could it be to create and sell virtual items for free games like Valve’s Team Fortress 2? Very, it turns out. Valve’s recently announced that, since 2011, it’s paid out over $57 million to folks participating in its Steam Workshop program – the service that facilitates the creation and sale of user-generated items (think: virtual hats).
That tally encompasses some 1,500 content makers 3D modeling items for Counterstrike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2 and Team Fortress 2 across 75 countries – roughly $38,000 per person.
Who knew there was so much money in imaginary stuff. Crazy.