In 2021, Valve’s staff consisted of 336 employees

Information about Valve’s employee count and salaries for 2021 has come to light, based on the Wolfire Games lawsuit against Valve.

Documents reveal that in 2021, Valve employed 336 people across four departments: Admin, Games, Steam, and Hardware.

The Admin department had 35 employees, with total payments amounting to $157.9 million. The Games department employed 181 people, with total salaries of $192.3 million. Steam had 79 employees, who received a total of $76.4 million. The Hardware department consisted of 41 employees, who were paid a total of $17.7 million.

Interestingly, in 2017, Valve’s Games department reached a peak in labor costs, amounting to $221 million. That year, the company did not release any new games, so it is likely that these expenses were directed towards supporting existing games like Dota 2 and developing new projects such as Artifact. However, by 2021, these expenses had decreased to $192.3 million.