Steam just hit 10 million concurrent in-game players for the very first time

Steam logo on blue_1080
(Image credit: Steam)

Another day, another Steam concurrent record broken - only this time it's not just about record numbers of people logged into Steam; we've also seen a new record broken for PC platform's active user numbers, too.

For the first time ever, over 10 million players were logged in and actively playing on Steam this weekend, with Steam DB clocking up a staggering 10,082,055 "in-game" players and a record-breaking 32,186,301 online users, too (thanks, TheGamer).

Steam's records are usually broken at times when lots of us are off work or stuck at home, which means we often see these records broken during holiday periods or on weekends.

Steam's upward trend began three years ago, in January 2020, when the world began to self-isolate at the start of the COVID-19 crisis. On February 2, Steam's existing record of 18,537,490 users – set in January 2018 – was surpassed, smashing the existing record by an impressive 300,000 to peak at 18,801,944 players. 

It's gone on to be broken several times since, including a weekend in March 2020 that saw numbers breach 20 million for the first time, and then 22 million just a week later. We saw 24.7 million users peak in December 2020, 26.5 million in February 2021, and then 27.1 million concurrent users at the beginning of the year.

At the end of October, the PC platform topped 30 million users on the platform at once for the very first time, and in November, Steam smashed its own record of the highest number of concurrent players recorded online - not once, but twice on the same day.

Early this week, an Among Us clone recently beat Among Us' concurrent player numbers on Steam.

If you've yet to play it for yourself just yet, Goose Goose Duck is a social deduction game where players must work together to complete their mission while trying to catch out the Mallard and other birds that have invaded their duck-oriented space in disguise. Yes, really.

Keep up to date with all the best games set to launch next year with our guide to new games 2023

Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, 12DOVE

Vikki Blake is 12DOVE's Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.