Half-Life 2 community challenge achieves highest concurrent player count since records began Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Half-Life 2 community challenge achieves highest concurrent player count since records began The bar is broken. News by Wesley Yin-Poole Deputy Editorial Director Updated on 14 Aug 2021 11 comments The Half-Life 2 community came together today to set the game's highest concurrent player count since records began. In mid-July, Valve game YouTubers joined up to issue players the "Breaking the Bar" challenge: beat Half-Life 2's concurrents record by playing the game at 4pm today, 14th August. The community wasn't exactly sure what Half-Life 2's concurrent peak was prior to today. According to Steam Charts, whose data goes back to July 2012, it was 6882, set back in March 2020 and sparked by the release of Half-Life: Alyx. But according to SteamDB, whose data goes back to 2008, Half-Life 2's prior concurrent peak was 12,953, set on 30th January 2012 as part of a fan campaign to push Valve to release more information on the future of the Half-Life series. Half-Life 2 came out in November 2004, well before Steam Charts and SteamDB began tracking Steam stats. In truth, only Valve knows Half-Life 2's true all-time peak concurrent player count. Either way, Half-Life 2 players managed to beat both figures today, hitting 16,101 concurrent players this afternoon according to SteamDB, and 14,378 according to Steam Charts. Nearly 9000 tuned in to watch Half-Life 2 streams on Twitch. The community came out of the gates swinging and completely destroyed both peaks! GG Everyone! pic.twitter.com/cJgcx1lJjW- Radiator Hazard (@RadHaz_) August 14, 2021 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings The video below, from YouTube channel noclick, is a playthrough of the game held today that also tracked the concurrent count in real-time: Why do this? For the hell of it, it seems. There's no significant Half-Life anniversary, from what I can tell. The challenge isn't some kind of call-to-arms in the hope Valve continues the legendary series with a third game, either. It's just Half-Life fans doing something fun for themselves. Mission accomplished, then! Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More News Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 4 Atari will hold RollerCoaster Tycoon rights for another decade Ups and downs. 7 Lady Dimitrescu will be a tad smaller in Resident Evil Village's Mercenaries DLC Level the playing field. 1 Overwatch 2 suffers another DDoS attack and character roster bugs Mei Mei. 13 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 4 Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Genshin Impact Path of Gleaming Jade dates, login event rewards Including other anniversary rewards and how to claim them. Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store