PC gaming remains undefeated. Steam continues to rocket ahead year-over-year, and right at the start of 2024 the platform has accomplished its biggest achievement to date—a new concurrent player record.
More than 33 million players were using Steam at the same time on Jan. 7, setting the new regard for most concurrent users signed in on the platform at once according to stats site SteamDB. This staggering figure is more than 100,000 users higher than the previous record that was set back in March 2023. If that wasn’t all, there’s another record Steam has broken.
Steam passed its previous record for most concurrent players in-game yesterday, on Jan. 6, with over 10 million gamers playing live via Valve’s client. The games that fueled this history-making record were Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, 2023’s game of the year Baldur’s Gate 3, and the co-op hit Lethal Company. These four titles have consistently topped the Steam charts for the latter portions of 2023 and look to continue doing so in 2024.
The reason that so many people signed in to Steam on Jan. 7 remains a mystery. Interestingly there were no major sales or holidays at play, though many gamers are probably still enjoying the last of the holiday break before heading back to their lives.
Now with this gigantic number setting the bar, it could take something special to bring more people onto Steam so that it can be beat. However, given the fact that the app continues to grow, it also could happen in the coming days, you just never know. One thing is for sure, Steam is not going anywhere and continues to be the number one gaming client for PC gamers.
With more people joining Steam by the day, it remains to be seen just how whacky The Steam Awards can get in 2024.
