Steam is unquestionably the be all, end all in terms of PC gaming platforms. Like, anyone could tell you there are a lot of people registered on the platform, but have you ever actually checked the straight statistics? As of a tally taken earlier this month, there are approximately 120 million users registered to Steam, with many of those millions actively playing games at any given time. Just this past April, Steam set a record for most online concurrent users at 26.9 million, but just a couple of days ago, that record was smashed again.
According to SteamDB, a fan-made database site that monitors and catalogs the goings-on of the Steam platform, over the weekend, Steam beat its online concurrent user record with a mighty 27 million online users. That’s a whole lot of folks playing a whole lot of games, even for a holiday shopping weekend.
So what led to this massive uptick in concurrent players? It’s difficult to say, though it’s probably a safe bet that the Steam Autumn Sale played a role. After all, when everyone’s bulking up their libraries with games on sale, it only makes sense they’re going to spend the weekend playing them. I know I was.
It is worth noting that this statistic only accounts for Steam accounts that are logged in and running a piece of game software. It doesn’t distinguish between players that are actively playing the game they’re running and those who just have the software open and sitting idle while they do something else. Speaking as a Team Fortress 2 veteran, I can say with confidence that there is no shortage of players leaving the game open to grind stuff while they go watch TV or something.
When will Steam break its concurrent user record again? Only time will tell.
Published: Nov 29, 2021 06:33 pm