Valve, known for Steam and occasional game releases, has a smaller workforce than CD Projekt Red’s team working on The Witcher 4.
Despite facing an antitrust lawsuit in 2021, Valve’s payroll chart revealed that the company had only 336 employees three years ago. This number has remained relatively stable over the past decade, with 360 employees in 2016 and 330 in 2013.
In comparison, Valve’s competitors have much larger teams. Microsoft has 20,000 staff, Ubisoft nearly as many, EA around 14,000, and Sony about 12,700. With only 336 employees, Valve is smaller than CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 4 team, which had 407 people as of April, not including other projects like Cyberpunk sequel Project Orion, original IP Project Hadar, and Shared Services.
Valve’s workforce is divided, with 79 employees working on Steam and nearly 200 developers working on games. The company has released projects like Steam Deck tech demo Aperture Desk Job, Counter-Strike 2, Half-Life: Alyx, and an expanded version of Artifact. However, with only 181 game developers in 2021, Valve’s new releases may be less frequent compared to other studios like Ubisoft.
While Valve’s focus has shifted away from game development, CD Projekt Red’s team of 400 developers is working on The Witcher 4, described as the “most advanced” game in the company’s upcoming lineup.
