Valve has revealed at its Steam Dev Days developer conference in Seattle that its PC gaming service Steam has grown to 75 million active users.
The company behind Counter-Strike, Half-Life and Portal reported in October 2013 that Steam had 65 million active users, a 30% rise in 2013.
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Now it seems in just two months the popular gaming service has grown again, according to Gunnar Optiks Director of Marketing Dave Oshry, who tweeted from the event.
That's likely thanks in large part to Valve's snowballing plans to take over living rooms with Steam Machines running SteamOS.
Middle man
Oshry has continued to tweet from the event, revealing that Valve might do away with its crowdsourcing initiative, Steam Greenlight.
"Our goal is to make Greenlight go away," Valve CEO Gabe Newell reportedly said. "Not because it's not useful, but because we're evolving."
At 75 million active users Steam is still wedged firmly in between Xbox Live's 48 million users and the PlayStation Network's 110 million.
The fact that those users on PlayStation are spread among the PS3, PS4, PS Vita, and even Sony mobile devices probably helps that number get so high. Microsoft only has the Xbox 360, the Xbox One, and a comparatively paltry few mobile and tablet users.
But with the roll Valve is on we won't be surprised when that 75 million hits 100 million users and beyond.
Steaming up CES
Valve had a significant presence at CES 2014, revealing 13 Steam Machine partners.
The Steam Machines, no-frills gaming-focused PCs meant for living room use, are expected to begin arriving this year.
They also use a unique controller, though as Valve has revealed, the Steam Controller will go through some more changes before it's out.
And Valve left the door open for it to develop its own SteamOS hardware as well.
