Since the start of the pandemic, Steam has seen a rapid increase in concurrent users–that is, the number of people using the service at any one time. Now, according to Valve’s own Steam Charts, Steam has hit a huge new milestone, reporting over 30 million users online at once on Sunday October 23.
With the pandemic boosting the amount of time people have spent gaming, Steam has broken its own records fairly regularly over the last few years. Earlier this year the platform reported a peak of 28 million for the first time, and has continued to grow since then.
The top five games being played during this weekend’s peak were Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, Lost Ark, Apex Legends, and PUBG: Battlegrounds. CS:GO made up over 1 million of the users counted online, with a peak of 1.05 million players on Sunday, but not everyone counted in Steam’s 30 million users would have been in game, as it also includes users browsing stores or engaging in Steam’s community features.
It’s likely the Steam Deck, which has become increasingly easy to purchase lately, has contributed to Steam’s increased concurrent numbers, with more players able to log on when out and about or just relaxing on the couch.
Other than the usual games that dominate Steam’s charts, a few games are also seeing increased player numbers recently–such as Cyberpunk 2077, which has seen a huge increase in players since the release of Edgerunners, and Sims 4, which has also had an influx of new players on Steam after becoming free-to-play.
At the very start of the pandemic, Steam posted a then-record of 20 million concurrent users, which shows how quickly the platform has grown over the last few years. It’s likely the platform is going to continue to break its own records in the coming months, with a number of holiday sales to look forward to.
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