Steam Continues to Grow at Rapid Pace, Breaks 7 Million Concurrent Users

In late 2011, we discussed NVIDIA’s thoughts on what the future of PC gaming would bring, and as we discovered, it wasn’t going to die (*gasp* *shock* *awe*). Instead, relayed reports stated that PC gaming could overtake console gaming as early as 2014.

That was 27 months ago. Since then, I think the PC has proven itself as a gaming platform. Game developers have begun to take Mac OS X and Linux more seriously, and Valve has gone out of its way to not only support both, but produce an operating system that helps bring PC gaming to the TV – literally catering to console gamers who don’t want to sit at a desk.

Well, things get even better, at least on the Steam front: The service has broken through the 7 million concurrent user barrier.

It’s worth noting a counter-point: Those 7 million users were just online – about 23% of them were actually in a game. That counter could be countered with the premise that a lot of console gamers don’t game 100% of the time they’re logged in, either. In fact, Netflix seems to be an ultra-popular use for all of the available consoles and PC alike.

A major contributing factor to this achievement is the popularity of Dota 2, a game that also holds a record for number of concurrent users on Steam. Before its release, Team Fortress 2 was Steam’s leading game, averaging 200,000 or so each night. Dota 2, by contrast, reaches a peak of at least 500,000 users on any given day. That’s nothing short of incredible.

As I’ve said before, PC gaming isn’t dead. It’s just getting started.