SteamDB revealed via Twitter that the PC gaming platform hsd has passed the milestone of 10 million simultaneous players in-game. On the same day (January 8), it also broke its record of most online users at one time, setting a new record of just over 33 million.
Specifically, the number of concurrent in-game players peaked at 10,284,568 on Sunday after peaking at over 10 million on Saturday. This is the number of players who are actively gaming at the same time. The number of concurrent players – the number of gamers who are online, even those who aren’t gaming – reached 33,078,963 on the same day.
The number of concurrent users on Steam has, according to SteamDB, has risen steadily over the last ten years. Player numbers skyrocketed around the start of the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from Newzoo released late last year suggests that all gaming markets have experienced a boon in recent years. Many of those numbers are dwindling as the market corrects, but it looks like Steam is still able to hold on to its large number of new players.
As for why the number of players has risen so high, that is a matter of speculation. Multiplayer titles seem to have high player counts on that day, including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and newcomer Goose Goose Duck. It’s also possible that many gamers are keeping their New Year’s resolutions to catch up – since Steam is legendary for sales, many players using the service boast massive libraries.
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