Be sure to make your voice heard by casting your vote in each of the categories before January 3rd at 9am Pacific. It's also time to cast your vote in the 2021 Steam Awards! The nominees for the best games of 2021 are in. Got some points burning a hole in your wintery coat pocket? Then be sure to browse the Points Shop for additional Winter Goodies on sale now.
Stop by the Points Shop any time before the sale ends on January 5th at 10am Pacific to claim your free stickers. Every two days the sneaky Yeti or one of his wintery friends will make an appearance as a little giftie pour vous there. It's open season to hunt for games and gifts in the Steam Winter Sale, where you'll catch a glimpse of the elusive Yeti and abominable savings on thousands of titles through January 5th at 10am Pacific.īe sure to claim your free Winter gifts in the Steam Points Shop while you're at it. Variety awaits those who delve a bit further into the list though, with plenty of other sporting options, along with other genres that are begging to be enjoyed with any input device. And if two wasn't enough, eFootball™ 2022 joined them, giving soccer games a 25% share of the Platinum category. EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21 returned to the Platinum category this year, joined by its successor, FIFA 22. Games within the sports genre have always been popular with controllers, but 2021 took that to another level with soccer specifically. Whether it was a console controller, a flight stick, or a dance pad, millions of unique devices connected players to their games during 2021. With the growth of games and player numbers on Steam during 2021, it's not surprising that the amount of controller sessions went up during the year as well. Specifically, it's a ranking of games based on the highest number of unique controller players that they reached through December 15th, 2021. This list represents the games that registered the most controller sessions during the year. For the players who make this Most Played list come to life, Steam Playtests and Next Fests give exciting peeks into development, as well as more confidence to make informed purchasing decisions. Both allow developers to get their products into the hands of thousands of players, testing server loads and adjusting matchmaking features, all while generating excitement and wishlist growth in the community.
We noticed that many of the Most Played games this year took full advantage of two newer features on Steam that help overcome those challenges: Steam Playtests and Steam Next Fests. If a game achieves that, managing thousands of players presents a whole new set of challenges for developers. It's already a massive challenge to create a product with enough interest and support to become a Most Played game. Like in previous years, we exclude player spikes caused by free weekends, giveaways, and other anomalous events. We've included every game that reached more than 30,000 players for the year, grouping them into buckets based on the number of players they reached. Unlike the lists that are based on commercial success, the Most Played list showcases games that achieved the highest numbers of players through December 15th, 2021. Five-time appearances in the Platinum category include PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege.Ī special shoutout to Destiny 2 as well, which has made the Platinum three years running since its Steam release in 2019. Dota 2, CS:GO, and Grand Theft Auto V all remain in the Platinum category for the sixth-straight year, which comes as no surprise to the passionate fans that launched these games throughout 2021.
Meanwhile, many of the perennial leaders continued to enjoy success on Steam.
Many of these debuts are new releases for 2021, but a handful of older titles also cracked into the top 100, thanks to continued passion from their developers and dedicated community support from players. Six games made their debuts in the Platinum category this year ( New World, Valheim, NARAKA: BLADEPOINT, Apex Legends, Battlefield™ 2042, and Dead by Daylight), with more than a third of the entire list being comprised of first-time Top Seller appearances. In terms of titles new to this list, 2021 was a good year for games making their debut in both the Platinum category as well as the list overall. To get the total revenue, we look at game sales, in-game transactions, and DLC sales for every app on Steam from January 1st, 2021 through December 15th, 2021.īeing the sixth time we've organized the yearly Top Sellers list, it's quite interesting to look back and see which games have become perennial champs, while also perusing the brand new hits that smashed their way to the top. The Top Sellers list is exactly what it sounds like - a look at the 100 games earning the most revenue on Steam during 2021.