Steam Just Beat Most Countries in Population and Nobody Noticed

Steam just pulled off something huge. Valve’s platform hit a new all-time peak, passing 40 million concurrent users for the first time. To put that into perspective, that’s more people than the population of 80% of the countries in the United Nations. While the number of users playing games was lower, with about 11 million in-game, it still shows how massive Steam has become.

This record-breaking moment happened on a Sunday, which isn’t surprising. Weekends usually bring in more players, and February has been full of big game releases and ongoing sales. SteamDB, which tracks live stats, recorded the exact count at 40,053,744 users online at the same time.

Valve has been seeing these numbers climb for a while. Back in March 2020, when the world was stuck at home, Steam hit 20 million concurrents for the first time. By January 2023, that number had doubled, passing 30 million. Now, just over a year later, it’s broken 40 million.

One big reason for this growth is that Steam isn’t just for gaming anymore. Many users keep the app running for chats, game updates, or just out of habit. That’s why the number of people actually playing games is much lower than those logged in. The platform has also been expanding with more sales, better regional pricing, and support for handheld gaming PCs like the Steam Deck.

Speaking of games, some of the usual suspects were at the top. Counter-Strike 2 led the pack, which isn’t shocking since Valve’s shooter has dominated for years. Other games in the most-played list included Dota 2, PUBG, and Apex Legends. But recent releases have also helped boost numbers, including Helldivers 2 and Palworld, both of which have been pulling in millions of players.

It also helps that popular game Monster Hunter: Wilds pulled in millions of players over the weekend after such a massive release.

At this rate, hitting 50 million concurrents doesn’t seem too far off. Steam keeps growing, and with new games, hardware, and features rolling out, there’s no sign of it slowing down.