Valve has revealed this year’s best-selling games and top new releases in Steam’s yearly “The Best of 2021” lists.
Ranging from games that are over 10 years old to new releases that have quickly risen to the top of the charts, this year’s “best of” lists include the best-selling games, as well as the most played, the top new releases, and some specific categories such as the best in VR and the best controller games. But it’s the “top sellers” list that generally lets players and industry experts know which titles were the most successful.
Divided into Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze tiers, the games in each category aren’t listed in any specific order. Instead, each tier contains a collection of the best sellers for that category, with the top one being the Platinum tier.
This year’s Platinum tier of best sellers is headlined by new releases such as New World, Valheim, and Battlefield 2042. These new titles, however, are joined by time-defying MOBAs, FPS titles, and battle royales that never seem to leave this tier, such as Dota 2, CS:GO, and PUBG.
Here’s the full list of this year’s Platinum-tier best-selling games on Steam:
- Dead By Daylight
- New World
- GTA V
- Destiny 2
- Rainbow Six Siege
- Valheim
- NARAKA: BLADEPOINT
- CS:GO
- Dota 2
- Apex Legends
- Battlefield 2042
- PUBG
Dota 2, CS:GO, and GTA V have made the Platinum tier list of best sellers for the past six years, according to a Valve blog post. They’re followed closely behind by PUBG and Rainbow Six Siege, which have made five appearances in the annual list’s Platinum tier.
The fact that new releases such as New World and Valheim made it into the Platinum tier with games that have been around for almost a decade is a testament to their initial success. Other new releases in the “top new releases” category for this year include the highly-anticipated strategy revival of Age of Empires 4, Back 4 Blood, and Forza Horizon 5.
Here’s a full list of the Platinum tier for Steam’s top new releases of 2021:
- Age of Empires 4
- Back 4 Blood
- Forza Horizon 5
- Outriders
- Valheim
- Halo Infinite
- Resident Evil Village
- Battlefield 2042
- New World
- Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
- Naraka: Bladepoint
- Farming Simulator 22
Among the other lists released by Valve, the “most played games” one is arguably the most important since it gives players an insight into the games with the highest number of concurrent players. The top tier of this list marks games that have reached over 200,000 concurrent players. Many of the games on this year’s Platinum-tier list of most played games coincide with the top sellers, such as CS:GO, Dota 2, New World, or Valheim. They’re joined by games like Rust, Cyberpunk 2077, and Halo Infinite.
While Rust has been upgraded to the top tier of the list, going from 100,000 concurrent players in 2020 to over 200,000 in 2021, others, such as Among Us and Destiny 2, dropped to lower tiers.
