While the PC gaming scene has become crowded with competing digital storefronts in recent years, the dominance of Steam has continued nonetheless. Even as competitors have grown, Valve’s storefront has remained the leader on the PC gaming front, and unsurprisingly, it kicked off 2022 with an impressive start.
As per numbers tracked by SteamDB, on January 2, Steam recorded its highest ever concurrent user count, registering an all-time peak of nearly 28 million concurrent users- 27,942,036, to be precise. The Steam Winter Sale 2021 is currently running as well, which is likely to have made an impact. The previous record current user count for Steam came in November, when it crossed 27.3 million concurrent users- which, incidentally, coincided with the Steam Autumn Sale 2021.
Of course, games with persistent player bases that have kept on growing have also been a significant factor, while it’s also worth mentioning that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Steam – like other gaming platforms – has been enjoying increased engagement with consistent growth.
Meanwhile, Valve has some other major milestones coming up on the Steam front as well, with the Steam Deck on track to launch in February.
