Steam broke an important milestone this weekend. The gaming portal registered over 30 million concurrent users for the first time. At around 14:00 UTC today, 30,032,005 gamers were using the platform(opens in new tab). Most will have been enjoying some spare time at the weekend playing their favorite PC games, but a large number would also be busy in the community, or browsing and purchasing more games through the storefront.

During weekends in 2022, concurrent users of Steam have typically peaked in the region of 27 to 29 million. The last highest concurrent user quota was at the end of March 2022, when 29,986,681 users were busy on the platform. However, as we all know, better weather in the northern hemisphere means that people get out more during the weekend, leaving their gaming dens or fortresses of solitude to gather dust. The night is again starting to draw in, and with this, Steam concurrent user figures have already nudged past that 30M milestones, even before we hit Halloween.

The PC platform is remarkable for several things, like its versatility, potential for massive amounts of CPU and GPU processing power, openness, and more. This latest Steam data, though, illustrates its durability in the face of better competition from consoles, mobile, and streaming game platforms. Moreover, there is a lot of news about PC and component sales slipping as the recession bites, but we see PC gaming is probably stronger than ever.



Should the new Steam record sheer PCs and components companies? To some degree, yes, but we have seen PC enthusiasts and DIYers that like to invest and upgrade shrug at some new releases due to pricing. In other words, PC and components makers can't just carry on like there is still a crypto-boom. Some may enjoy selling flagship components at the top of the market now, but many mainstream users will remain price sensitive.

Finally, congratulations to Steam, and we look forward to the following milestones - perhaps just after Xmas, then before the good weather returns in 2023.

Posted: Oct 26, 2022 7:59 pm
Related Forum: PC Building Forum

Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/steam-breaks-through-30-million-concurrent-users-milestone