Steam Simultaneous Player Count Breaks Record Again To Surpass 26 Million

It has been about a year since the start of the global pandemic, and many people are staying at home to play video games. We have seen Steam’s concurrent player count break its own record several times during this time frame, and the record has been broken once again.

Industry analyst Piers Harding-Rolls shared the news on Twitter, showing that more than 26 million Steam users were logged in at the same time, which is an all-time high for the service. The number was actually a bit higher than what is listed in his tweet when we checked it out, so it looks like Steam’s record could rise further.

One variable, however, is the number of people who are actually playing a game at that time. This record was do not snapped today, although it got a little closer than any time we’ve seen in almost a year.

It’s hard to say for sure why the player’s record was broken today, as it’s been a pretty dry period for new game releases. Staples like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Grand Theft Auto V, and Team Fortress 2 continue to feature high on the charts, with over a million people playing CS: GO at the same time, in particular. . The weekend is, in general, the time when the number of players increases each week. The reason is pretty obvious, although games release days can also cause the same spikes.

The last big spike we saw in December made more sense on paper, as Cyberpunk 2077 had just been released. It’s still on the charts as of February, but the total number of players has dropped significantly as CD Projekt Red continues to work on improving stability and fixing bugs. The worst issues in the game have been found on consoles. This certainly makes the PC a more attractive platform for gaming, at least for now, as the next-gen versions won’t be available until late 2021.