Steam is the biggest online video game launcher around and despite other launchers have emerged with the passing of time, Steam is still the king. Valve’s launcher has a lot of video games, but have you ever asked which video games are the most popular on this launcher?
Steam has more video games you can ever imagine; single player to multiplayer, from action to terror, kid-oriented games to adults only games. Today we are going to check which are the 10 most played and popular video games ever in Steam. So, let’s begin!
10. Apex Legends – 624,473 players
Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends takes the 10th spot in this list because, surprisingly, is far more popular and more played than Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0. With a peak of 624,473 gamers playing simultaneously, this battle royale has been very successful even before it arrived to Steam because before it could only be played on Origin, now named EA App.
For those who have played Titanfall before, will notice the similarity between both games… Well both Titanfall and Apex are set in the same universe and both were created by Respawn.
9. Goose Goose Duck – 702,845 players
Goose Goose Duck is a video game similar to the both popular and acclaimed Among Us, but that comparison doesn’t justify why this game got 702,845 gamers playing it simultaneously.
Do you want to know the reason why this game got so popular? It was because the singer V from the K-Pop group BTS played this video game during a stream and gave Goose Goose Duck an enormous boost in popularity.
Nowadays, this game is not as popular as before, but despite this it has tens of thousands of active players.
8. Hogwarts Legacy – 879,308 players
The magical Harry Potter franchise is extremely popular around the world and when a video game based on this franchise is released, you know it will be played by thousands of people.
Considered the first “good” Harry Potter video game, Hogwarts Legacy broke sales records and got, like I said, thousands of gamers playing it after its debut. With a peak of 879,308 gamers playing it at one point, Hogwarts Legacy takes the 8th spot, and also is the most recent video game in this list.
The most impressive thing is that Hogwarts Legacy doesn’t have a multiplayer option.
7. New World – 953,426 players
The first MMORPG in this list, New World is the first successful video game from Amazon Games.
It had a truly spectacular launch and despite some technical problems (one of those technical problems bricked graphic cards), New World got a peak of 913,634 persons playing it at the same time.
But sadly, with the passing of time, New World lost 90% of the players and never reached the same numbers again. Despite that, New World is a very good MMORPG and, from my perspective, one of the best MMORPG around for sure.
6. Elden Ring – 953,426 players
FromSoftware is well known for the quality of its games, and also for the difficulty obviously. Their long-waited collaboration with the genius George R.R. Martin named Elden Ring is an absolute masterpiece.
That is one of the reasons why this game was elected as Game of the Year 2022. Right after its release on Steam it reached 953,426 gamers playing it at one point. I am currently playing this game and let me tell you this: this game deserves the GOTY and even more than that. FromSoftware knows how to create beautiful challenges.
5. Cyberpunk 2077 – 1,054,388 players
The first title in this list that exceeded one million is Cyberpunk 2077, a long-awaited and hyped game that had a lot of bugs when it was released.
Cyberpunk 2077 peaked 1,054,388 players at one point despite all the technical bugs, but over the time the number of players decreased and the funny thing is that the technical problems also decreased.
CD Project RED did a lot in the last year to give us the game we deeply wanted… A little bit late, but better late than never, right? We appreciate that a lot.
4. DOTA 2 – 1,295,114 players
The only MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) video game in our ranking is a classic, and one of the most competitive video games out there.
Defense of the Ancients 2, or most commonly known as DOTA 2, is the direct competitor of League of Legends, and despite being released 4 years after LoL, DOTA 2 managed to be almost as popular as League of Legends.
DOTA 2 continues to have a large number of gamers playing it; the game still registers over 500,000 active gamers and it peaked 1,295,114 gamers simultaneously.
3. Lost Ark – 1,325,305 players
The third spot and the bronze medal belongs to 2019’s Lost Ark, an MMORPG developed by Smilegate that landed in Europe after its massive success in South Korea.
Lost Ark is an incredible online video game who is still played heavily to this day, but just like any other MMORPG (except for the eternal World of Warcraft), the number of players dropped drastically over time. Despite that, Lost Ark is still one of the most played games on Steam but the game never reached again its peak that was 1,325,305 players at one point.
2. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – 1.818.773 players
The second spot and silver medal goes to the most played video game on Steam currently.
When we talk about Counter-Strike we are talking about probably the greatest first-person shooter in the history of video games, so it would be a crime if the latest incarnation of this game, Global Offensive, don’t appear in this list.
Like I said before, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, or just simply CSGO, is the most played game on Steam right now and just today (07/24/2023) it reached 1,152,959 gamers enjoying the game, but it hasn’t reached its peak again: 1,818,773 active players.
1. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds – 3,275,248 players
The gold medal and the top spot goes to the game that gave birth to the most played genre of the last 5 years: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
PUBG reached a peak that no other game has ever reached: 3,275,248 gamers playing the game simultaneously. That is astonishing. Sadly, PUBG never reached those numbers again but despite that, this game is still top 10 of most played games currently on Steam.
Will Counter Strike 2 be able to break the record of most active simultaneous players? We have to wait a little bit to know that.
