This Online Gaming Platform Sets A New Record With 10 Million People Playing At The Same Time

Steam, the video game digital distribution service, marked a new record for player engagement in January.
The platform, which is owned by video game developer Valve, is the largest digital distribution platform for PC gaming and has been around since 2003 (its 20th anniversary is just around the corner).
Steam has been reaching milestones since it was created, but this one hits differently. On Jan. 7, 10 million people were playing video games on Steam at the same time. Those users were not just idling in the browser, but actually playing games simultaneously.

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What are the most popular games on Steam? As per Polygon, the most-chosen titles on the platform are Valve’s “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” (which has about a million daily players), “Dota 2,” Tencent Holdings ADR's TCEHY “PUBG: Battlegrounds,” Activision Blizzard Inc's ATVI “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,” Amazon.com Inc's AMZN “Lost Ark,” Electronic Arts Inc​​​​​​​'s EA “FIFA 23,” and Respawn’s “Apex Legends.”

Steam, The Largest Digital Distribution Platform For PC Gaming

Moreover, the service’s concurrent online users also hit a daily record in January, with over 32 million people. This indicates that the platform's user base is growing consistently. 
Previously, one of Steam's most important traffic records took place on March 30, 2020, during the pandemic. On that day, 8.1 million people were playing online at the same time.

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And, while life went back to normal and numbers dropped again, the upward trend eventually resumed. During Valentine’s Day weekend in 2022, there were 9.2 million concurrent players on Steam.

Photo by Florian Olivo on Unsplash