Steam breaks concurrent player records

Digital PC gaming platform Steam has recorded a huge number of players, breaking previous records set earlier this year

Steam, the premier digital gaming platform on PC, has broken its concurrent player record, with almost 32 million players on the platform all at the same time over the weekend.

As reported by Eurogamer, Steam’s analytics show that a new record for concurrent players was set over the weekend, with 31,349,780 players on the platform all at once. The numbers include idle players – players who are logged into Steam and active on the PC, but not playing a game through the platform – but roughly 10 million players were reportedly actively playing Steam games.

Steam is the number one gaming storefront on Windows PCs, with well over a million accounts and over 120 million active monthly users. The storefront hosts over 50,000 games, with dozens being added every day, from small indie games to high-budget AAA games from major publishers.

Counter-Strike Global Offensive is consistently one of the most popular games on Steam. Picture: Valve

The previous record of 30,049,264 was set just last month in October, and prior to that a record of just under 30 million players was set in March. Numbers have been climbing overall since the start of the pandemic, with more people active on their PCs either due to working from home, having invested in PC gaming over the course of the pandemic, or just having more time generally to play PC games.

The most-played games over the weekend included CS: GO, Dota 2, PUBG: Battlegrounds, and the recently-released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which racked up over 373,000 players. That might not seem like much when considering the almost 10 million active players on the platform, but given the game is also available through Activision’s own launcher, it’s likely to be a much higher number overall.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is available on both Steam and Activision’s own launcher, with cross-play supported between the two. Picture: Activision Blizzard

It’s likely that the record will be broken once again over the holidays, as more gamers have free time to dedicate to the hobby.

In other gaming news, independent Australian MP Andrew Wilkie has taken aim at video game loot boxes, introducing a new bill to parliament that would place harsh restrictions on the sale of games that feature them. Games that feature loot boxes, which offer a random item that the player cannot choose, would be automatically classified as R18+ or have classification refused, as the practice is said to normalise gambling.

China has also said that it has “solved” youth video game addiction, in a new report that claims 75% of gamers under 18 now play games for less than three hours a week. It comes after tight restrictions that forced games companies to implement activity blockers for minors, preventing them from playing for more than an hour a day, and on any days other than Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.