Steam Sales Up 205% - But Who's Counting?

According to ShackNews, Valve reported a staggering 205% increase in sales over the past year with over 25 million active accounts. This equates to a minimum 100% annual increase that Valve has enjoyed since their birth five years ago. Not to belittle their success, but I wonder how that number would fair if Modern Warfare 2 had shipped in January? More importantly, how many of those Steam-sold MW2 copies were not added to the lowly 3% reported PC market share?

It would do the PC market a great justice if Valve and other online distributors such as Impulse, Direct to Drive,  GamersGate and especially Blizzard would publish their numbers or in the very least get them added to the ESA market totals. The PC retail sales for Modern Warfare 2 were paltry in reports but as a Steam game there were many who just found it easier to buy it online instead, even with the 2 day wait for activation.

Perhaps the totals aren't as flattering as one would hope and hyping the mystery is better press than the facts. I would hope rather that it's more to do with competition and keeping the numbers hidden being more of a lure for developers and new titles. Either way, congratulations are in order and here's to hoping that those numbers make the count before they become irrelevant.