Steam hits 25 million concurrent users for the first time Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Steam hits 25 million concurrent users for the first time Steamed up. News by Vikki Blake Contributor Updated on 3 Jan 2021 18 comments It's a happy new year indeed for Valve - we're only a few days into 2021, but the company has once again broken its own record for the highest number of concurrent users on its digital PC platform, Steam. This is the seventh time the record has been broken in 12 months, most recently when it hit 24,776,635 concurrent users in mid-December. Before then, the highest concurrent player count seen on Steam was 22 million users. Credit: SteamDB Steam saw an unprecedented number of players concurrently online back when the pandemic first surged, resulting in millions of people going into lockdown. Now, according to SteamDB (thanks, PC Gamer), Valve's PC platform has hit another record high, with 25,415,080 concurrent users on the service yesterday, 2nd January, 2021. Though only speculation, it's thought a combination of the colder weather, pandemic lockdowns, and the release of Cyberpunk 2077 have all had an impact on the figures and of course, not all 25 million were actively playing - most accounts were idle at the time, with "only" 7.4 million actively in-game at the time the record was broken. The record of 18.5 million concurrent players - which was originally set at the height of PUBG's popularity in January 2018 - has been broken several times since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. On 2nd February a new high of 18.8m was set when China went into lockdown around Chinese New Year, and then again just a week later, when 19.1m were online when CNY was extended. When Europe went into lockdown in March, Steam noted another new record when 20.3m of us were online on 15th March. On the 20th this was beaten once more - 21.1 million of us were all online at the same time - and then that record was topped once again on 21st March 2020. Watch on YouTube 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. Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 4 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