•Valve’s Steam platform set a new all-time record for simultaneous users on Sunday, peaking at 43,505,724 concurrent players (via SteamDB). It marks the second time this year that Valve has broken its own record, having attracted over 42 million concurrent players in January.
The figure represents more than 43 million people online at once worldwide, both playing and not. The number of players actually in-game also rose to a new peak of more than 14 million.
This is the highest-ever number of simultaneous users in Steam’s 23-year history. The record came shortly after the end of Steam’s Autumn Sale, which some may find surprising given that sales typically drive up player numbers. Recent weeks have instead seen a run of popular game launches, most notably the worldwide release of free-to-play MMO Aion 2, which peaked at 397,905 concurrent players at launch.
Steam’s list of its top ten most played games remained largely unchanged apart from two notable movements. Deadlock saw a big jump to a peak of 262,145 concurrent users following a major update. The game is Valve’s third-person MOBA-shooter hybrid, which the developer has not yet officially announced.
These figures are presented as signs of Steam’s continued expansion and its dominance over the PC gaming space. That user traffic translates into revenue for Valve: according to recent estimates, Valve made $15bn (~£11.10bn) from Steam by September, with Forza Horizon 6 cited as Steam’s biggest new release so far this year by revenue.
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