Hats equal money: 1,500 Steam community creators have earned more than $57M making items

Developer Valve’s digital-distribution service has created a connected virtual economy that is paying off for the people taking advantage of it.

The company announced today that it has paid out $57 million to those who have made in-game items that gamers can buy and equip on their characters in Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. That money was spread across just 1,500 people in 75 countries, which means that the average content creator earned around $38,000. That’s a pretty good salary for someone designing digital goodies. These items often take the form of hats or other decorative gear that players in Valve’s top releases can use to help their characters stand out. Using the Steam Workshop, anyone can build and release their own items, and Valve splits the revenue it earns with the creators. This is by far the biggest game company working with its fans to offer them a way to make money, and Valve is the only company actively working to add this type of functionality to more releases.