Steam Hits Record 41.7 Million Concurrent Users

Steam set a new high-water mark this week, with 41.7 million users logged in simultaneously, more than double the 19 million peak the platform recorded in March 2020, when the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic.

The milestone, comes as Valve's digital storefront continues to pull away from competitors in the PC gaming market. The Seattle-based company has added nearly 10 million concurrent users in less than two years, up from 33 million in January 2024.

Battlefield 6 Launch Drives Steam Engagement to New Heights

The latest surge followed the release of several marquee titles, including Battlefield 6, which launched Oct. 10 and drew players back to the platform. The first-person shooter peaked at roughly 747,000 concurrent players on Steam within hours of its release, making it the second most-played game on the platform behind Counter-Strike 2 and marking Electronic Arts' biggest shooter launch on the service.

The performance represented a significant achievement for EA, which had previously seen its Battlefield franchise trail competitors on the platform. Battlefield 6 surpassed Call of Duty's Steam peak of around 492,000 concurrent players and exceeded previous entries in its own series. The game's open beta had drawn 521,000 peak concurrent players, suggesting the full release attracted substantial additional interest.

The influx of players created some server queues, with wait times occasionally reaching six figures, though the game's infrastructure largely handled the demand without extended delays. Player interest focused primarily on multiplayer modes, which drove sustained engagement despite mixed reviews of the single-player campaign.

The successful launch underscores Steam's dominant position in PC gaming distribution, even as competitors including Epic Games Store and Microsoft's Xbox app vie for market share. The platform's concurrent user count has more than doubled since the pandemic began, reflecting both the growth of PC gaming and Steam's ability to secure major releases from publishers including EA, which previously emphasized its own Origin platform for distribution.