In June 2014, Steam saw record concurrent usership during its summer sale. Over 8 million people flocked to the site at the same time during the heat of June. Now, in the early hours of 2015, a that number has been surpassed.
At approximately 11:30 a.m. Pacific / 2:30 p.m. Eastern on January 1, usership hit 8,466,441. Dota 2 remains the top-played game by a wide margin, with perennial favorites Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, Football Manager, Skyrim, and Civilization taking spots on the top ten list.
Click to enlarge.
Overkill’s crime fantasy, Payday 2, anchors the list at number 10. What caught our attention though, is that with one exception the ten most played games are the same franchises (June 2014's list).
We’ve reached out to Valve for comment and certification that the 8.46 million concurrent users represents a new record. We’ll update should we receive a response.
Update: Valve has responded to our request, confirming that this concurrent usership number is a record.
[Source: Valve via NEOGaf, MCV]
Our Take
The PC market is alive and well, but not fully saturated. Steam Machines could disrupt the living room gaming market, but for that to happen, the selling proposition needs to be clear.
Right now, I’m unclear what “problem” (in the marketing definition of the word) Valve’s console-like hardware solves. If Valve hopes to make a dent in marketshare held by Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, it will need more than guarantees of inexpensive software. I’m eager to see how Valve deals with the problem of positioning the Steam Machines.