It’s even more ridiculous when you consider its predecessor hit 1.5 million sales about two months after release (that too after spending nearly two years in early access). Which isn’t to say that Crimson Desert struggled, despite a spectrum of reviews and a “Mixed” rating at launch. It reportedly sold almost two million copies on Steam last month, with Elliott previously alleging that it crossed $200 million revenue across all platforms.

As for Resident Evil Requiem, it reportedly sold 1.2 million copies in March, resulting in $70 million in revenue (with total sales on Steam now seemingly at 2.9 million). Capcom confirmed over two weeks after launch that the survival horror sequel had sold over six million copies, but it wouldn’t be surprising if that total is even higher now.

Nevertheless, with Pragmata out in the coming weeks, the company could be gearing up for another smash hit on Steam. It’s available on April 30th and also coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2, after recently going gold.

The first Resident Evil is a banger, putting you in control of Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield as they try to make sense of a nasty situation that leaves their STARS team decimated. Resident Evil 2 marks the debut of Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield in Raccoon City in an adventure with implications that have stayed with him all his life, coming to a head in Requiem as he learns the truth about Raccoon City’s bombing. Resident Evil 3 Nemesis brings it all back to Jill, and her desperate effort to escape the city as the effects of Umbrella’s underhanded dealings unfold on its streets.

They’re quite impressive titles, even prompting a couple of remakes that were quite successful in their own right. However, we can tell you that the OG versions hit different, and at this price, they’re a steal. You could choose to pick one over the others if you’re interested in a specific story. Either way, it’s nice to go back to where it all began, a sentiment that Requiem made good use of in its main narrative.

And if those don’t suit your taste, then there’s Breath of Fire 4, one of the best role-playing games ever made. Unfortunately, all four titles come with the Enigma Protector DRM. It isn’t present in the GOG releases and seems to have broken performance on Steam Deck, so keep that in mind when diving in.

Death Stranding, by comparison, peaked at 32,515 concurrent players. The Director’s Cut would debut in March 2022 and peak at 22,080 concurrent. Considering it isn’t even the weekend, there’s the potential for Death Stranding 2 to perform even better, which is great news for Kojima Productions. Check out our review of the PC port for more details.

Unfortunately, it’s not exactly the best figures for PlayStation Studios on Steam, lagging behind the likes of Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut (77,154), God of War (73,529) and Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition (56,557). Meanwhile, Returnal, LEGO Horizon Adventures, and more have failed to replicate the same level of success. If rumors are to be believed, Sony could be reining in first-party single-player releases on PC.

Ghost of Yōtei was apparently slated for the same, but has since been scrapped. You also shouldn’t expect Saros or Marvel’s Wolverine to arrive anytime soon, though plans could always change.

Valve noted that the attorney general had first reached out to the company in early 2023 where it had made similar comparisons. The studio also said that its players “don’t have to open mystery boxes” in order to play its games. “In fact, most of you don’t open any boxes at all and just play the games—because the items in the boxes are purely cosmetic, there is no disadvantage to a player not spending money.”

As for the lawsuit itself, Valve has said that it has “serious concerns” about the changes the New York attorney general wants the company to make to its games. Among these changes is making loot boxes and their contents non-transferrable.

“We think the transferability of a digital game item is good for consumers—it gives a user the ability to sell or trade an old or unwanted item for something else, in the same way an owner can sell or trade a tangible item like a Pokemon or baseball card. NYAG proposes to take away users’ ability to transfer their digital items from Valve games. Transferability is a right we believe should not be taken away, and we refuse to do that.”

The company has also called out the attorney general’s proposal to gather “additional information” on each one of the players “on the off-chance someone in New York was anonymizing their location to appear outside of New York, such as by using a VPN.” This could lead Valve to implement invasive technologies for the purposes of this data collection, which would include age verification, despite payment processors already having age verification built into their systems.

“We respect New York’s right to determine the laws governing behavior in the state. We will of course comply if the New York legislature passes laws governing mystery boxes—something it has not done despite considering the issue a few times,” wrote the company. “Such laws would be the result of a public process, presumably with input from the industry and New York gamers. The type of commitments the NYAG demanded from Valve went far beyond what existing New York law requires and even beyond New York itself. It may have been easier and cheaper for Valve to make a deal with the NYAG, but we believed the type of deal that would satisfy the NYAG would have been bad for users and other game developers, and impacted our ability to innovate in game design.”

As for the attorney general’s comments attempting to draw correlations between video games, violence in the real world, and the effect this might have on children, Valve has said that they serve as “a distraction and a mischaracterization we’ve all heard before.” Closing things out, the company makes a note of “many studies” highlighting the “beneficial impact” that games have on their players, and that it will ultimately wait for a court’s decision on the matter rather than trying to settle with the state of New York.

However, that’s not all, as Version 2.0 will also go live on all platforms simultaneously. There’s a lot to be excited about in the new update, with New Game Plus being an important addition alongside Photo Mode, the Titanium challenge level, new weapon parts and skins in NG+, DLSS 4 support on PC, a new Boss Revival mode, and much more. Version 2.0 might be the definitive way to experience the game if earlier criticism dissuaded you.

Alongside PC, Blades of Fire is available for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Despite failing to meet 505 Games’ sales expectations, we found it to be a pretty solid, if slightly flawed, experience, and its slow, methodical combat has certainly had its fair share of takers. But its crafting systems and the way it forged bonds between its players and their weapons were the real stars of the show.

Following the AI R.E.A.C.H., which suddenly ends up in a human body, you’re on the run from the Phoenix Corporation, venturing into Phoenix-City. But despite the 1980s setting, this isn’t the United States that many would know. Due to a nuclear catastrophe, a third of the country has become uninhabitable, and Phoenix-City is full of bandits, slums, and other horrors that players must combat.

Not that R.E.A.C.H. is helpless by any stretch. Replaced offers Free Flow Combat akin to the Batman: Arkham titles, but on a 2.5D plane. You can dodge bullets, counter blows, and effortlessly chain attacks on foes. There’s even a sidearm for executions, be it from afar or up close. Of course, there’s a lot more to the gameplay, including platforming and puzzle-solving. You’ll even encounter various side quests and requests in a location to complete.

Arriving nearly five years after its initial announcement, Replaced has evolved significantly, especially with the gorgeous art direction. It will be available on March 12th for Xbox Series X/S and PC alongside Game Pass.

According to Alinea Analytics’ Rhys Elliott, it’s Unknown Worlds’ Subnautica 2, which recently outlined how co-op would work. Despite the troubled development period, especially with Krafton and the studio’s founders embroiled in a lawsuit, it’s reportedly garnered 3.8 million wishlists. While not surprising (since the original and Subnautica: Below Zero sold millions of copies each), Elliott notes that it’s also “been available for wishlisting since November 2024.”

Compare that to Forza Horizon 6, which became available to wishlist back in September 2025, and is reportedly already at 2.6 million. That’s not all – since pre-orders became available, it’s allegedly sold 220,000 copies on Steam, netting $13 million in revenue.

As for Resident Evil Requiem, it’s only barely behind at 2.5 million wishlists. The reveal of Leon S. Kennedy has seemingly had a knock-on effect, as Elliott notes that 39 percent of those wishlisted also played Resident Evil 4 remake. While Capcom previously stated that it won’t release a demo, you can’t help but wonder if a last-minute pivot wouldn’t cause interest to spike even further.

Subnautica 2 enters early access this year for Xbox Series X/S and PC. Resident Evil Requiem launches on February 27th for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. Forza Horizon 6 arrives on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC, with the PS5 version set for later this year.

And no, that’s not hyperbole. Bungie’s looter shooter would start installing, whether you wanted it to or not. Thankfully, the bug has since been resolved, alongside another that prevented Collector’s Edition owners from activating the game on Steam. One can only hope that this is the end of any Steam-related issues, but it’s early days yet.

Marathon launches on March 5th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC with three maps, though a fourth, the end-game Cryo Archive, will become available in Season 1 (which doesn’t have a release date). You can also control seven different Runners, each with their own unique kits and playstyles. These can be customized further with Runner-exclusive Cores and Implants that grant random stats and Perks for all Shells.

Bungie has yet to confirm if there will be an open beta before launch, so stay tuned for more updates. At the very least, the PC requirements aren’t overwhelming, and Marathon will offer solo queue and proximity chat on release.

What makes this all the more incredible is that it’s the ninth straight week that it achieved this feat, beating the free-to-play Counter-Strike 2 and Battlefield 6, which had a much larger launch in terms of sales. It even scored ahead of heavy hitters like Marvel Rivals, Helldivers 2, Rocket League, Warframe, and Baldur’s Gate 3.

While its console rankings aren’t nearly as dominant, it’s still in eighth place on PlayStation and seventh place on Xbox. Plus, you have to consider that the top five most-played games have remained relatively static since 2024.

What’s next for ARC Raiders, especially with Embark promising a roadmap “soon”? Aside from multiple new maps across a “spectrum of size,” you can apparently expect a new map condition this week in Toxic Swamps. The developer is also looking to implement bigger ARC threats, but those expecting Speranza to become a hub that players can traverse will have to wait a bit longer.

As can be seen in the graph, Steam had already been seeing a respectable level of growth, and 2020’s Covid-19 pandemic played a major role in accelerating this. Since many were stuck inside their homes due to lockdowns, gaming saw considerable growth, and Steam undoubtedly benefited from this. At the time of publishing, the number of concurrent users has stabilised a bit, with almost 30 million users online right now.

Interestingly, reports of Steam seeing growth in user numbers go back quite a few years, with one from 2013 discussing how its 6.6 million concurrent users at the time was a 300 percent jump over the preceding year.

As for what these millions of users are playing right now, free-to-play titles like Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2 and PUBG: Battlegrounds continue to dominate the most-played charts, with premium games showing up as you go down the list. These premium games include ARC Raiders, Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced, and Stardew Valley. Aside from ARC Raiders, the most recent release in the most-played list right now is Elden Ring: Nightreign, which is currently ranked at 22. Battlefield 6 is further down the list, at rank 28.

Moving further into the first month of 2026, a look back at the November-December period of the previous year reveals that Embark Studios’ ARC Raiders closed the year out by being the top-selling game of the final two months . Other titles in the charts include the award-winning Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Dispatch, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

Aside from being a generally decent storefront thanks to its various sales, Steam’s growth in users likely also stems from the fact that Valve has been active in releasing new features for the platform over the years. These range from built-in cloud saves to family account and game sharing to an immense level of controller and peripheral compatibility through Steam Input, and even mod support for games through Steam Workshop.

Valve has also been growing its user base thanks to the release of the Steam Deck, and the platform will likely see yet another growth spurt once the Steam Machine is finally released. The Steam Machine, along with the new Steam Controller and the Steam Frame, were unveiled just a few months ago. The Steam Machine will be a Linux-based pre-built gaming PC with a “semi-custom” AMD CPU and GPU, and will run on Valve’s own SteamOS. The Steam Frame, on the other hand, will be a VR headset capable of streaming games directly from your system, regardless of whether it’s VR-based. If you’re curious, here’s everything you need to know about Valve’s hardware announcements.