Steam Boasts 7 Million Concurrent Users Over Thanksgiving

[Steven Bogos]

Steam Boasts 7 Million Concurrent Users Over Thanksgiving

The concurrent user number is up from 6 million last year.

"PC gaming is dead," comes the cry from the platform's opponents every few years, and with the massive hype surrounding Sony and Microsoft's latest boxes, some may be starting to think it's true. So, let's put this silly notion to bed once and for all with some hard, cold, facts. Fact: Steam has now broke 7 million concurrent users, up from 6 million at the same time last year. Fact: Steam has 65 million registered users, up a staggering 15 million from last year. Fact: I can, right now, purchase several games on Steam [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130051-Steams-2013-Autumn-Sale-Begins] (some of them GOTY contenders released this year) for less than the price of a Big Mac meal.

Back in 2011, there were around 40 million registered accounts with around 5 million concurrent users. This means that the amount of concurrent users has increased steadily by one million every year. To put things into perspective for you Microsoft's Xbox Live has 48 million accounts and Sony's PlayStation Network has 110 million.

Furthermore, the console game with the highest ever concurrent number of players was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on the Xbox 360, with 1.4 million. Meanwhile, Riot Game's League of Legends (which is not on Steam), boasts a concurrent player base of around 5 million. Steam's most-played game is DoTA 2, with a peak of around 550,000 players.

This bodes very well for Valve's upcoming Steam Machines [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/128156-Valve-Unveils-Steam-Machines-Hardware-Beta-Coming-Soon], as having such a healthy install base is sure to make the initiate a success.

Source: PC Games N [http://www.pcgamesn.com/steam-breaks-7-million-concurrent-users-more-million-more-time-last-year]

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[Elf Defiler Korgan]

I got into steam just recently, and next year, my wife will also be jumping aboard. Just too convenient not to as pc gamers.

 

[balberoy]

I got into steam just recently, and next year, my wife will also be jumping aboard. Just too convenient not to as pc gamers.

And affordable, for that matter.
I can't pay 40-60? per game. I just don't have the money. And I can't win a battle against my wife for every game I wanna own. Steam (and various Bundle Sites) give me the opportunity to buy games and have no arguments with my wife cause they are so cheap that she doesn't get mad.

The only backdrop is the maintanance cost I have to fight for, to keep the PC up to date. (2 or 3 years back in parts for that matter....)

 

[Directionless]

The only backdrop is the maintanance cost I have to fight for, to keep the PC up to date. (2 or 3 years back in parts for that matter....)

I think you "want" rather than "need" to update. If your PC was decent 2 years ago, it'll be running games modestly for the next few years.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I'm surprised that more people aren't jumping to Steam. Steam sales make games cheaper than your average cup of coffee. For $60 you can buy 10-12 games sometimes. And the best thing of all, they're not used games. They're brand new, because they are digital.

 

[Jumwa]

I think you "want" rather than "need" to update. If your PC was decent 2 years ago, it'll be running games modestly for the next few years.

Truly, thanks to the stagnant console scene (hardware wise) these past seven years, if you had a computer that was able to play things decently years ago, it should do you fine now.

I bought a super powered new PC this year in anticipation of the new console generation maybe driving up requirements for playing on Ultra. However, it's looking less likely now that the PS4/Xboner will be pushing any boundaries by much. My last PC crushed them performance wise.

 

[Ipsen]

Good for Steam....

....Why the hell are there so many PSN accounts?

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I'm surprised that more people aren't jumping to Steam. Steam sales make games cheaper than your average cup of coffee. For $60 you can buy 10-12 games sometimes. And the best thing of all, they're not used games. They're brand new, because they are digital.

If Steam Machines successfully break into the wider console market expect a jump in numbers.

I honestly thought Steam would begin to level off this year with the new consoles coming out, however the poor performance and arrogance of console manufacturers (Mainly Microsoft but Sony has been slipping crap under the 'Always Online' shitstorm) combined with Valve's big project I don't see the Steam train slowing down any-time soon.

 

[lancar]

The notion that "PC gaming is dead" has been put to bed countless times by now, yet somehow it always gets back up.

I was dead-against getting Steam back in the day. The only reason I started was that I was pretty much forced into it when my store-bought copy of Fallout New Vegas required it to run. I was so pissed.

Then I was introduced to Steam sales...

...and now my games list is several pages long.

Can't say I'm regretting it, though my wallet might disagree.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

I'm surprised that more people aren't jumping to Steam. Steam sales make games cheaper than your average cup of coffee. For $60 you can buy 10-12 games sometimes. And the best thing of all, they're not used games. They're brand new, because they are digital.

If Steam Machines successfully break into the wider console market expect a jump in numbers.

I honestly thought Steam would begin to level off this year with the new consoles coming out, however the poor performance and arrogance of console manufacturers (Mainly Microsoft but Sony has been slipping crap under the 'Always Online' shitstorm) combined with Valve's big project I don't see the Steam train slowing down any-time soon.

It did slowed down. From 40 million users in 2011,at the end of 2012 it had 60 million users,which was 20 million users in just a year. 2013 was a slow year for Steam,as it only got 5 million new users.

 

[Strazdas]

Good for Steam....

....Why the hell are there so many PSN accounts?

Because PSN was free and many people created multiple accounts. Also Vite also registers on PSN account, so you got two machines in same system.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I'm surprised that more people aren't jumping to Steam. Steam sales make games cheaper than your average cup of coffee. For $60 you can buy 10-12 games sometimes. And the best thing of all, they're not used games. They're brand new, because they are digital.

If Steam Machines successfully break into the wider console market expect a jump in numbers.

I honestly thought Steam would begin to level off this year with the new consoles coming out, however the poor performance and arrogance of console manufacturers (Mainly Microsoft but Sony has been slipping crap under the 'Always Online' shitstorm) combined with Valve's big project I don't see the Steam train slowing down any-time soon.

It did slowed down. From 40 million users in 2011,at the end of 2012 it had 60 million users,which was 20 million users in just a year. 2013 was a slow year for Steam,as it only got 5 million new users.

Really? I read it was only 50 million for the end of 2012.

http://www.pcgamesn.com/steam-has-50-million-users-5-million-playing-concurrently

 

[J Tyran]

Good for Steam....

....Why the hell are there so many PSN accounts?

Because PSN was free and many people created multiple accounts. Also Vite also registers on PSN account, so you got two machines in same system.

The PSP counts as well, although most users that own more than one will have multiple devices tied to a single account and not have a seperate account for each device.

 

[Albino Boo]

I remember in threads about PC gaming that mentioning the massive numbers of users on steam, especially active users, when compared to even Xbox live is met with a "That seems dubious/ pics or it didn't happen"

Hopefully this will put to bed the notion that Steam is some kind of niche service when compared to services with slightly more aggressive marketing. Consoles have bigger individual launches because games tend to have a more 'flavor of the month' aspect to them or have become one of the only staple games a certain audience buys (See the "Call of duty, Madden/Fifa" cycle).

Steams user-base is more diverse, less homogenized and a bit more scattered but that dosen't mean it is any less huge.

The big difference is that console users only have Xbox live and PSN. Most PC users have accounts on several services. I have 256 games on steam, 10 or so on origin and 20 odd on gog. PSN and Xbox live being the only game in town means they are worth more revenue. This is what steam is aiming for with its steamOS

 

[Steven Bogos]

Good for Steam....

....Why the hell are there so many PSN accounts?

Because the PS3 is completely region free, many users register several accounts in separate regions so they can get region-specific games and deals (IE: games only released in Japan). Then there's also multiple friends or family members using the same console: each usually has a separate account.

My friend who is a PS3 gamer, for example, has seven accounts on his PS3.

 

[Coreless]

I have been using Steam for about 4 years now and I can't understand why I was ever against it in the first place. The amount of sales alone justifies at least taking a chance on it. I only see the community getting larger as time goes on, shoot I even managed to convince my father to get an account for Company of Heroes and he really hates these kinds of services. He has yet to complain about losing service or not being able to play when he wanted.

 

[blackrave]

So we have this information, but still no info regarding numbers of digital sales?
What a shame :/