Record-breaking Steam numbers show console isn't necessarily king these days
Are you a PC gamer? According to the numbers, the chances are pretty high that you are.
23rd Sep 2024 15:24
Images via Valve
Record-breaking Steam numbers show console isn't necessarily king these days
Are you a PC gamer? According to the numbers, the chances are pretty high that you are.
23rd Sep 2024 15:24
Images via Valve
The current generation of consoles launched in 2020, and while they got off to a slow start thanks to the global pandemic, it'd be fair to say they're starting to find their footing. Still, it seems many of you would much rather fire up your PC instead.
New numbers suggest that Steam, the most popular place to find and play PC games, has hit a new all-time peak for the second time in a month. "PS5 Pro who?" indeed.
Steam breaks its player count record... again
As spotted by The Verge's Tom Warren on X (formerly Twitter), Steam eclipsed its player count record of 37 million which it set last month.
This time, Steam's peak sits at a huge 38.3 million playing concurrently. That's still some way shy of the reportedly 55 million PS5 consoles sold, but to have that many playing at the same time is very, very impressive.
According to Steamcharts, in the last few weeks, the top games have ranged from Valve's own Counter-Strike 2 and DOTA 2, to Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, Apex Legends, and GTA 5. The most recent games in the top 10 are Black Myth: Wukong and Satisfactory, the latter of which recently hit version 1.0.
Why is PC gaming so popular?
PC gaming has always been popular, but there's a good chance the difficulty in securing a console at the start of the generation may have nudged newcomers toward it.
We're also seeing more console hits ported to PC, including Final Fantasy 16 and God of War Ragnarok just last week, or simultaneous PC releases like Xbox first-party titles and Helldivers 2.
Xbox Game Pass also has a PC-focused membership, which offers the likes of Ara: History Untold on day one.
There's also a good chance many of those 38 million players are on Valve's Steam Deck or another portable PC, with handheld PCs growing in popularity in recent years.
About The Author
Lloyd Coombes
Lloyd is GGRecon's Editor-in-Chief, having previously worked at Dexerto and Gfinity, and occasionally appears in The Daily Star newspaper. A big fan of loot-based games including Destiny 2 and Diablo 4, when he's not working you'll find him at the gym or trying to play Magic The Gathering.
