Steam just passed a record-breaking 33 million concurrent users with over 10 million in games

Winter Steam Sale 2023 — (Image credit: YouTube via Valve)

Steam has once again broken its own concurrent user record as a whopping 33,675,229 of us were on the digital storefront at the same time this weekend.

That's according to estimates from the Steam Database posted earlier today (January 7 ) that also claim 10,837,140 players were logged into games during that time, breaking another Steam record. Valve previously topped its player records a full twelve months ago when, for the very first time, over 10 million users booted up games concurrently in January 2023. It seems that the year's first full weekend is a prime time for us all to enjoy our freshly-redeemed holiday goodies.

This weekend's most-played chart toppers include the two usual suspects: Counter-Strike 2 at first place, with a 24-hour peak of 1.2 million concurrent players, and Dota 2 in second place, with over 730,000 players logging in today.

Two other big performers include PUBG: Battlegrounds with over half a million players jumping in at its peak this weekend, followed by Baldur's Gate 3 with almost 300,000 concurrent players, a game that’s had remarkable staying power since its record-smashing debut last year.

The rest of the top ten is rounded out by indie horror Lethal Company, evergreen hero shooter Team Fortress 2, crime epic GTA V, multiplayer survival mainstay Rust, and Call of Duty - all of which passed at least 140,000 concurrent players this weekend.

Steam has been on a slight record-breaking streak lately, with the platform hosting over 14,000 games in 2023, a total that surpasses any previous year. The calendar year was probably propelled by the sheer number of games released, as well as games such as Starfield, Hogwarts Legacy, and Baldur’s Gate 3 launching to chart-topping success.

Check out the upcoming games of 2024 to keep up to date with this year’s newness.

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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.