Steam has recently topped 10 million concurrent in-game players for the first time and 32 million concurrent online users.
The milestones were reached on Saturday, January 7, according to information shared by SteamDB, when the number of concurrent in-game players reached 10,082,055 million and the number of concurrent online users, or those who are simply using Steam but aren't necessarily playing a game, reached 32,186,301.
In terms of what these millions of players were playing, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive had 1.08 million concurrent players as of the time of this writing and was the most played game in the previous 24 hours. PUBG: Battlegrounds (439,944), Goose Goose Duck (605,694), DOTA 2 (766,096), and Apex Legends (439,944) were all playing behind Counter-Strike (367,585).
After the holiday season and the conclusion of one of Steam's major discounts, the milestone was accomplished. It also arrives when no significant new game releases are scheduled.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, Steam has continuously seen its record for concurrent users shattered.
Thanksgiving 2021 saw a peak of 27.3 million concurrent viewers; since then, it has only become bigger and bigger.
Steam Just Won't Stop Breaking Its Concurrent Players Record
Steam very quickly broke its concurrent users record last year, with around 18.8 million people using it at once, once the coronavirus outbreak took off and caused global lockdowns.
With 20 million users a month later, it broke that record again. Finally, last month, it reached a peak of roughly 25.4 million. It had done it once more, with 26,401,443 concurrent users as of yesterday.
The number has been increasing slowly over time, with a highly visible increase within the first quarter of 2020, according to a graph of lifetime concurrent users on Steam Database.
With 28 million concurrent users on January 9, Valve's digital distribution service Steam has kept up a trend of shattering its own records.
Over 28 million players recently came to the Steam platform, according to analyst Daniel Ahmad (tweet below), who revealed the news. This helped the PC service achieve a new record. Having nearly missed surpassing 28 million concurrent players earlier this month, the precise number, 28,230,661, is the first time in Steam's history that it has surpassed over 28 million players.
Although that figure did fall, it has been steadily increasing since the autumn, indicating that more and more individuals are moving to PC gaming.
There is most likely no single reason for this. The flu and heavy snow in some areas have no doubt contributed to many staying home, but there has been no nationwide lockdown in the United States in recent months.
Frustration at not being able to obtain a next-generation console may have also played a role, with some consumers giving up and switching to PCs.
Steam Charts provides a convenient list of the top titles played in the last 30 days. Most of them are unsurprising, with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds on the list.
However, two newer titles have made their way into the top ten. The first ranked fourth is Tale Of Immortal, an open-world role-playing game available solely in China. Although it is in early access, a short check at the user reviews reveals an extremely positive response.
Valheim, the second game, is also under early access and is a Norse-themed survival game that may be played solo or with up to ten other players. Even if they are new, it is startling to find them alongside more established and popular games.
Tale of Immortal is even outperforming Grand Theft Auto 5 and Apex Legends, the latter of which has just begun its seventh season.
While Valve has recently come under fire for things like geo-blocking games on the platform, these figures show how incredibly popular Steam is and how, even after nearly 20 years, it is still gaining new users.
It's a great time to play Steam games, especially if you have a Steam Deck. If you have one or are thinking about getting one, check out this list of the top 10 best Steam Deck games.