Steam’s player count just hit an all-time high
Players on Valve's PC gaming platform keeps going up and up
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Steam hits a new record
😲 Over 10 million Steam players were simultaneously playing on the platform last weekend
📈 It marks a new record of concurrent in-game players for Valve’s PC behemoth
💪 The number of concurrent users also reached a new high of over 33 million
🏆 Steam’s dominance across PC gaming certainly isn’t going anywhere
Steam just hit a new record, as more than 10 million players concurrently hopped into a game through Valve’s PC platform for the first time in its history.
Recorded by Steam data-tracking site SteamDB, a whopping 10,082,055 users were simultaneously playing games on the platform on January 7. A day later, it beat that record by another 200,000 and set a new record of concurrent online users (meaning they were logged into Steam and had the app running, but weren’t playing a game on the platform) at 33,078,963.
Steam’s player count often peaks around major gaming releases or big events. It rose sharply during the early months of the pandemic as people found themselves stuck indoors, closer to their PC. It rises in peaks and troughs but always points upwards over the long term. This time five years ago, for instance, the number of concurrent players sat at around seven million, while Steam’s concurrent user count was 15 million users fewer.
That Steam is currently seeing an uptick in players isn’t too surprising. The platform usually sees a surge in concurrent users and players in the winter months before that trend subsides in the middle of the year – presumably, because people are outside having fun in the sun instead of stuck indoors playing video games.
We wouldn’t be surprised if the recent Steam Winter Sale had something to do with its recent player surge, either. Of course, with the release of Valve’s handheld Steam Deck earlier this year, it’s never been easier to log into the platform while you're on the go. It’s a pricey bit of kit, but The Game Awards giveaway certainly raised its profile a little.
Plus, with Ubisoft’s self-imposed Steam exile now finally over, the platform’s dominance across PC gaming is only going to grow.
Of course, if you’re spending all your time on Steam not playing the best PC games, you’re definitely doing something wrong. Combine all those amazing PC picks with the best gaming PCs, and it’s no surprise Steam’s concurrent player count keeps on going up and up.