As individual titles like Battlefield 6, Hades 2, and Hollow Knight: Silksong continue to shatter their own concurrent player records on Steam, Valve’s platform itself keeps raising the bar for total concurrent players. In September 2024, Steam hit a record-breaking 38.4 million concurrent users. Now, that milestone has been dwarfed — the platform has surged past 41.6 million concurrent players, a jump of more than three million.
According to DSOGaming, this new record was driven by a perfect storm of major events. Battlefield 6 launched to massive success, both in sales and concurrent players, while the final Steam Next Fest of the year drew huge engagement across dozens of demos. Mainstays like DOTA 2 and Counter-Strike also maintained their usual momentum, helping propel Steam to an astonishing peak of 41,666,455 concurrent players, as reported by SteamDB on October 12.
Since then, the numbers have dipped below 40 million again, but the trend is clear — Steam’s player base remains remarkably consistent. Having first crossed the 41 million threshold earlier this year in March, the platform continues to prove its staying power despite analysts predicting that consoles may soon hold the edge in overall gaming growth.
With major PC releases still to come, it’ll be interesting to see how the next wave of blockbusters drives Steam’s numbers even higher. And in the ongoing shooter rivalry, all eyes are on Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 to see if it can rival Battlefield 6’s stunning comeback.
For those looking to get the most out of Battlefield 6, check out our detailed benchmarking guide to ensure your system is tuned for peak performance.
