Valve deploys 100Gbps Internet ports to handle 75% traffic growth

Steam's most recent usage data. (credit: Valve)

Valve is upgrading its network infrastructure with 100Gbps Internet ports to keep pace with big traffic growth. The news came in an announcement yesterday from Valve's network operator, Level 3 Communications. The press release exists mainly to promote Level 3's network, but it provides some details about Valve's massive bandwidth needs.

Steam's traffic levels are growing about 75 percent year-over-year, currently totaling 450 to 500 petabytes per month or four to five exabytes a year, the announcement said. Standard game downloads are 10 to 40 gigabytes, and the Steam platform "has over 100 million users, averaging more than 10 million concurrent players and over two billion minutes played logged per day."

Steam recently set a new record with more than 12.3 million concurrent users.

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