Steam Hit Its New Record: 24.5 Million Concurrent Users During the Coronavirus Outbreak

by Frank Stich

The number of concurrent users on Steam has been growing since the beginning of the year. Steam is steadily updating its records with each weekend after the announcement of global self-isolation. Last weekend, a new record was set. On Saturday, April 4, Steam hit a new high of 24,535,923 players — nearly two million more than two weeks earlier.

Meanwhile, more than 8 million people were actually playing games at the time when the new record was set.

The leaders are still Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with a maximum of 1,189,488 people online, which is followed by Dota 2 with a peak of 769,179 people.

This weekend's Top-5 also included PlayerUknown's Battlegrounds, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, and Grand Theft Auto V.

The number of players at a time of self-isolation has increased significantly on other platforms, too, including PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.

Due to quarantine and high demand for game services, Sony and Microsoft announced forced restrictions on Internet traffic to reduce network loads.

Some individual projects showed enviable successes against the backdrop of the pandemic. For example, the shareware game Call of Duty: Warzone attracted more than 15 million players three days after the release, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 1.88 million copies in three days, thus showing the best start on Switch in Japan.

But there are also negative consequences of the pandemic for the industry: the postponement of the May release of the games The Last of Us Part 2 and Iron Man VR for an indefinite period.