This may be why gaming company Valve employs few people and the salary it gives

Valve, known for Steam and Half-Life, employed 336 people in 2021. Wolfire’s lawsuit revealed an average developer pay of $1 million. Valve’s profitability per employee exceeds Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Despite fewer staff than EA or Riot Games, Valve’s workforce includes 79 in Steam, 181 in game development, and 41 in hardware.