Steam Had Its Biggest Christmas Day Ever This Year

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Despite everything, 2020 has been a big year for the video game industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to many players having more time at home, leading to more purchases and playing time. Steam has understandably been a major benefactor, as it is the biggest digital PC gaming storefront. Few could have estimated just how successful Steam would be this year, however, and to punctuate that success it seems Steam has drawn a record number of users on Christmas Day.

Valve's own tracking site for concurrent Steam users says that around 23 million people were all logged in at the same time on Christmas Day, just before 7:00 a.m. PT. Almost 25 million users all logged into the storefront at the same time is a staggering number, but it becomes all the more impressive when compared to the number from Christmas Day in 2019 when Steam tracked just around 15 million users at its high point.

The days after Christmas saw numbers even more impressive, hitting nearly 25 million on December 25, 26, and 27. Those numbers are certain to remain high in the short term, though the post-Christmas peak has likely already been reached and won't be surpassed immediately. Next weekend would be the best chance of finally hitting that 25 million mark, but it may not happen without another major game release.

The 25 million mark would be a big achievement for Steam, given the platform had never even crossed 19 million going back to early 2018. March 2020 was Steam's breakout month, when it broke through the 19 million user threshold and climbed all the way to 24.5 million in a single month. That was when the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit much of the world, leading to many states in the USA imposing business and school closures. That 24.5 million number was only crossed in early December with the launch of Cyberpunk 2077.

It took stars aligning for Steam to reach the numbers it's currently experiencing. The pandemic, the holiday season, as well as the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 are likely all partially responsible for this unprecedented achievement by the PC storefront. It's no coincidence that Steam has a major holiday sale going on, meaning Valve is probably making the most out of these numbers.

Next year is going to be interesting to follow. Numbers during the pandemic did sink a small amount during the initial March surge, but nowhere near pre-pandemic numbers. Steam's numbers could remain this high as the pandemic hopefully dissipates, or Steam's numbers could lower. Regardless, it's an interesting time for PC gaming.