The launch of Cyberpunk 2077 has broken a number of records, including PC game sales. A not-so-surprising benefactor for Cyberpunk 2077's success has been Steam, which set a record of its own. Steam logged its most concurrent users ever, peaking at around 24.8 million users around 10:10 a.m. ET on Saturday. Cyberpunk 2077's success alone didn't help Steam reach those numbers, though, and there's an opportunity for the record to be broken within a week.
Two key games are driving Steam's numbers up this weekend. Cyberpunk 2077 is one of them, as the new RPG from CD Projekt Red is insanely popular for a single-player game and its launch weekend is going to have its highest numbers, well over a million at its peak today. A second game is peaking over a million users today, as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's newest Operation is live, driving players back to see the added content. This combined effort, as well as general holiday gaming excitement, has helped Steam rise.
To detail the most-played Steam games of the past 24 hours, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is actually first, eking out a victory over Cyberpunk 2077's 1.054 million concurrent players with 1.089 million. Dota 2 is third with 608 thousand players, followed by PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' 413 thousand. Five other games were over 100 thousand, including Among Us, Grand Theft Auto 5, Rocket League, Rainbow Six Siege, and the Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer, which is largely made up of GTA5 users playing a mod named FiveM.
As for why Steam may break its record again in the coming week, GTA Online is receiving its highly anticipated Cayo Perico Heist expansion Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands of additional players are expected to jump on, so if Cyberpunk 2077 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive can hold onto their players for another few days, Steam will have a perfect opportunity to keep thriving.
Source: Steam