Steam begins 2024 with nearly 34 million concurrent players

Within the first week of the new year, Steam has set a new peak for simultaneous players.

As spotted by analyst Morwull, the platform reached 33.68 million concurrent players yesterday (January 7). As noted by WCCFTech, it's a small increase from the previous peak of near-33.6 million

Compared to the 30 million milestone of fall 2022, this is a 12.2 percent bump up. Morwull further noted that at time of the benchmark, 10.6 million of those players were actively playing a game, continuing on from the same milestone almost a full year ago.

The platform was estimated to have over 14,000 game releases in 2023, a sizable upswing from the 12,562 of titles for 2022. And October 2023 had the most monthly releases at 1,324 games.

What's unknown, though, is the divide between Steam users on their PCs versus those using the program on handheld devices like the Steam Deck or ASUS ROG Ally.

The Steam Deck has been a big success driver for Valve since its initial launch in 2022. It's met the system's demand with continuous support and an OLED model that launched in late 2023.

Presently, Steam's five most-played games include Counter-Strike 2, DOTA 2, Baldur's Gate 3, PUBG, and Grand Theft Auto V. Meanwhile, top-sellers include the Steam Deck, Baldur's Gate 3, Lethal Company, Counter-Strike 2, and Call of Duty.