Steam hit a major milestone this weekend. The game portal registered more than 30 million simultaneous users online for the first time. On October 23, around 3:00 AM ET, 30,032,005 gamers were using the platform. Most of them enjoyed their free time on the weekend playing their favorite computer games, but a large number were also busy in the community or browsing and buying more games through the store window.
Steam concurrent users typically peaked around 27-29 million on weekends in 2022. The most recent concurrent users peak was at the end of March 2022, when the platform had 29,986,681 active users. However, as we all know, better weather in the Northern Hemisphere means that more people are going out for the weekend, leaving their play dens or fortresses of solitude to gather dust. But nights are getting longer again, and with it, the number of concurrent Steam users is increasing.
The PC platform is notable for several things, such as its versatility, potential for massive amounts of CPU and GPU computing power, openness, and more. Steam’s latest figures, however, illustrate its resilience in the face of better competition from consoles, mobile, and streaming gaming platforms. Moreover, there is a lot of news that PC and peripheral sales are down due to the recession, but we can see that PC gaming is probably stronger than ever.
Should the new Steam record help the sales of PCs and accessories? To an extent, yes, but PC enthusiasts and hobbyists who like to invest and upgrade shrug at some new releases because of the prices. In other words, PC and component manufacturers cannot continue to operate as if there is still a crypto boom. Some may like to sell flagship components now, but many ordinary users will remain price sensitive.
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