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Steam hits 12 million concurrent users.

M

Mass Effect

Member
I honestly can't tell who is trolling and who isn't anymore.

orochi91 said:
Anyone who's installing Steam for the first time, so quite a few people. Also, I never claimed otherwise, I've already outlined all this in my original test post :p

The way these concurrent numbers are reported are as pointless as Sony and their 70+ million PSN account claims.
Click to expand...

Except, if you've been paying attention to the concurrent numbers over the years, the number of people actively playing games has gone up directly with the increase in concurrent users. Here are the numbers for when Steam hit 8.5 million:

cwyUKuc.png
Click to expand...

Compare that to the list in the OP. The games are a bit different, but the numbers for the top games now are all higher than the top games back then.

Hell, when I first joined Steam (summer 2011), most of the top 100 games had less than a 1000 players at any given time. Now, the lowest top 100 game is at >3000 concurrent players at non-peak hours.
 
A

Anno

Member
Nice to see this has gone off exactly like every other Steam concurrent user thread ever. A few million more grandmas unwittingly installing the program it seems.
 
N

Nzyme32

Member
Falk said:
Well, yeah, I meant, why not Jan 2012, Jan 2013, Jan 2014, Jan 2015, Jan 2016 as the horizontal axis markings.

OCD firing up, etc.
Click to expand...

As for the choice of axis labeling, I have no idea. Regarding why the data is quite random, there isn't any logic to them other than that those are the only reported data I could find that had the data attached from a quick search I did three years back when I did one of the older threads - so all of them are for the "milestones" that got reported rather than specific times. Having a quick search now shows that I have missed an obvious good source - right here on GAF via Archie's older thread that shows the following:

9th September 2011 - 4 million concurrent users
2nd January 2012 - 5 million concurrent users

In that thread, ghst has posted an image that apparently contains data from October 2009 showing 1.6 million concurrent users, but doesn't show the full graph.

naxt6.jpg
 
F

fluffydelusions

Member
Nzyme32 said:
There isn't any logic to them other than that those are the only reported data I could find that had the data attached from a quick search I did three years back when I did one of the older threads. Having a quick search now shows that I have missed an obvious good source - right here on GAF via Archie's older thread that shows the following:

9th September 2011 - 4 million concurrent users
2nd January 2012 - 5 million concurrent users

In that thread, ghst has posted an image that apparently contains data from October 2009 showing 1.6 million concurrent users, but doesn't show the full graph.

naxt6.jpg
Click to expand...

I still remember seeing the peak at around a few hundred thousand back in the day.
 
O

orochi91

Member
Grief.exe said:
I can't find anything for how they calculate active accounts as most news agencies are just commenting on the news rather than how they calculate it.

Jan 2014 75 million active
Feb 2015 125 million active
Click to expand...

Yea, this is why the concurrent numbers are essentially meaningless, as they don't properly reflect active users. A number of active users would provide a better picture of the overall Steam platform. I imagine the number would be much less than the reported 12+ million claim. PC gaming is massive, but Steam is a rather small part of it.

After spending so much time in NPD threads, I've become numb to random PR numbers parroted by platform holders like MS, Sony and Valve. Ironically, Nintendo is the only one who bothers giving out relatively concrete numbers about their platforms and software units.

Anyways, I've pretty much got my answers with regards to the veracity of these concurrent numbers. Later folks.
 
V

viHuGi

Banned
orochi91 said:
This doesn't mean anything.

This is the equivalent of those Sony fans saying PSN has "77 million accounts", when the people who actively use PSN are significantly less.

Concurrent users who are actively gaming on Steam is a far more valuable statistic than people who are logged on (who may or may not be doing anything on their accounts).

I just demonstrated above that Steam logs you in automatically at OS Startup, unless you configure it otherwise. My laptop Steam account that has nothing on it and isn't doing anything, but will now be counted among those 12+ million concurrent users.
Click to expand...

77 milion? Go search from someone with "A" on PSN and you will see something like 160 milion results. It means nothing.

If you search "E" a little less.

People who buy games and play them is what matters not some accounts numbers, overall looking at Steam stats i see a very healthy platform with games being played by millions each one in the top 15.
 
M

Mr.Mike

Member
Nzyme32 said:
As for the choice of axis labeling, I have no idea. Regarding why the data is quite random, there isn't any logic to them other than that those are the only reported data I could find that had the data attached from a quick search I did three years back when I did one of the older threads - so all of them are for the "milestones" that got reported rather than specific times. Having a quick search now shows that I have missed an obvious good source - right here on GAF via Archie's older thread that shows the following:

9th September 2011 - 4 million concurrent users
2nd January 2012 - 5 million concurrent users

In that thread, ghst has posted an image that apparently contains data from October 2009 showing 1.6 million concurrent users, but doesn't show the full graph.

naxt6.jpg
Click to expand...

CounterStrike will never die.
 
M

Mass Effect

Member
orochi91 said:
Yea, this is why the concurrent numbers are essentially meaningless, as they don't properly reflect active users. A number of active users would provide a better picture of the overall Steam platform. I imagine the number would be much less than the reported 12+ million claim. PC gaming is massive, but Steam is a rather small part of it.

After spending so much time in NPD threads, I've become numb to random PR numbers parroted by platform holders like MS, Sony and Valve. Ironically, Nintendo is the only one who bothers giving out relatively concrete numbers about their platforms and software units.
Click to expand...

You serious? Dota 2 alone has had 8 million players in the past two weeks. You think there are less than 12 million active users (which is different from concurrent users) on Steam total?

Yeah, you have no idea what you're talking about.
 
N

Nzyme32

Member
Grief.exe said:
I can't find anything for how they calculate active accounts as most news agencies are just commenting on the news rather than how they calculate it.

Jan 2014 75 million active
Feb 2015 125 million active

I wonder how many actual Steam accounts there are, 500 million? 600 million?
Click to expand...

The total active accounts is a bit dubious now. Valve changed the definition of "active" from being active within 30 days and owning a game, to being active within 90 days OR owning a game / being active. This change was apparently to account for all the F2P activity steam gets that wouldn't be counted by the old definition, but that also means that none active accounts or accounts that have been used briefly to check on something but were otherwise abandoned, will now be counted as active.

So while that number is still useful, it probably has a higher margin of error by several million and now can't be compared to any that cover 30 day active users. I suspect they'd announce new figures whenever they make new announcements / press releases this year, which is where the last numbers came from.

Mass Effect said:
You serious? Dota 2 alone has had 8 million players in the past two weeks. You think there are less than 12 million active users (which is different from concurrent users) on Steam total?

Yeah, you have no idea what you're talking about.
Click to expand...

11.89 million unique players in the last month (since that is one of the regular metrics companies use to discuss a games activity)
 
P

pager99

Member
Nice numbers for pc,just shooting the breeze here to get an estimate for PS4 and is in no ways accurate my friends list has 140 of 700 online which equates to a fifth, so a fifth of total sales of PS4(I estimate 36 million) is around 7.2 million online if my friends list can be correlated accurately, anybody else's friends list reflect this?
 
F

FLAguy954

Junior Member
ViciousDS said:
Nah.....it's 2016. Until media outside gaming goes above 1080p I have no reason to spend a ton of money upgrading my monitor and computer for a minimal experience increase
Click to expand...

My 39" 4K TV is a massive jump over 1080p. It is far from a 'minimal experience increase' and has spoiled 1080p for me :/.
 
V

viHuGi

Banned
pager99 said:
Nice numbers for pc,just shooting the breeze here to get an estimate for PS4 and is in no ways accurate my friends list has 140 of 700 online which equates to a fifth, so a fifth of total sales of PS4(I estimate 36 million) is around 7.2 million online if my friends list can be correlated accurately, anybody else's friends list reflect this?
Click to expand...

That's not a way to measure it and PSN is way more than Ps4, still tens of millions on ps3 and Ps4 is still growing into 100m sales.

Only games we have numbers on psn is SW Rocket League and BF4.

Those are pretty strong but make no mistake, GTA V, Black Ops 3, AW, Minecraft, Fifa 16 (etc) are much much bigger.
 
N

Nzyme32

Member
viHuGi said:
Dota has 10m monthly active users, League has 67m wich means League is bigger than Steam, so Steam is a part of pc gaming but just that.

Blizzard games are huge aswell.
Click to expand...

You could be right but for the wrong reasons though; you are comparing two different metrics here which doesn't make sense.

That 67 million number is the number of monthly players LoL got each month announced in Jan 27th 2014, meanwhile on Jan 17th 2014 Dota2 was announced to have reached 10 million monthly players - - that in itself has nothing to do with whether Steam is bigger than LoL or not, just that LoL is obviously massive vs Dota2.

That same 67 million monthly LoL players actually translated to 7.5 million concurrent LoL users according to their announcement. Steam announced 65 million active users in October 2013, and reached 7.5 million concurrent users on December 27th 2013.

If you ask me that data can be argued into any direction you want. At that time, they were probably as big as each other. I'm certain LoL is massive today and remains easily bigger than Dota2, but I'd take a guess that their numbers don't represent the same or better growth as before since it has been almost 2 years since they last reported numbers when they used to trumpet them. Is LoL bigger than Steam right now - no idea unless they show numbers
 
A

Alvarez

Banned
Why are you guys comparing a MOBA to a digital games platform quasi-monopoly? Neither of them are exclusive; everyone on LoL knows what Steam is and vice versa.

Calling Steam a "small" part of PC gaming is hysterical, though. Where else are you going to get your PC games? Ebay? Gamestop's PC shelf (does that exist anymore)? Gog? Origin? --Or are you referring to the 353554 digital storefronts that sell Steam keys?

You guys will debate anything! "Steam is huge." "Actually, it's 1% smaller than you said it was!"
 
N

Nzyme32

Member
Alvarez said:
Why are you guys comparing a MOBA to a digital games platform quasi-monopoly? Neither of them are exclusive; everyone on LoL knows what Steam is and vice versa.

Calling Steam a "small" part of PC gaming is hysterical, though. Where else are you going to get your PC games? Ebay? Gamestop's PC shelf (does that exist anymore)? Gog? Origin? --Or are you referring to the 353554 digital storefronts that sell Steam keys?

You guys will debate anything! "Steam is huge." "Actually, it's 1% smaller than you said it was!"
Click to expand...

I'm just proving a point since this is already from an older thread; in fact it gets brought up whenever this topic is discussed. Steam concurrent numbers only demonstrate that x amount of people find Steam useful these days. That's pretty much it. I don't think anyone paying attention is arguing that it isn't significant
 
B

BBboy20

Member
IxcI1i2.png

Fallout 4 really is some *savior* for PC (or brings everyone to the yard).

Yeah, R* probably should try getting the PC version out for 6 on the same day as the console releases.

People outside the US really like their futball fantasy. :p

People still thirst for Civilization.

ARK really has become that popular.

Skyrim still holding out.

Rust really is that big.

Rocket League really has become the hype.

Hhmm, a lot really do want to get their milsim on.

Terraria always seem like a game everyone on my first list plays all the time.

Digital Extreme probably should feel pretty highly right now.

L4D still holding strong.

Not sure if this is a good or bad that Siege has more players then Borderlands 2.

CS:Source really seem unstoppable.

Spirited said:
That's surprising.

thought they kinda died after CS:GO got "fixed" by valve.
Click to expand...
Wut? GO is not 2 and even then, Counter-Strike, the franchise, is a world (or worlds if you look at the die hard fanbases for each iteration) of itself that can't be compared to others.
 
S

Sax Russel

Banned
If you'd seen orochi's posts in the box office thread you'd know not to take anything he says about numbers/data extrapolation seriously in the slightest =P
 
M

Mudcrab

Member
Sax Russel said:
If you'd seen orochi's posts in the box office thread you'd know not to take anything he says about numbers/data extrapolation seriously in the slightest =P
Click to expand...

Pretty sure he's right tho, at least half that number of concurrent users is uncles and maybe even grandpas too.
 
K

kinoki

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
Falk said:
how many of those dota2 players are actually having fun?
Click to expand...

I think that's a fair measurement. We shouldn't measure units sold but units enjoyed.
 
L

Lucumo

Member
Alvarez said:
Calling Steam a "small" part of PC gaming is hysterical, though. Where else are you going to get your PC games? Ebay? Gamestop's PC shelf (does that exist anymore)? Gog? Origin? --Or are you referring to the 353554 digital storefronts that sell Steam keys?
Click to expand...

I wasn't addressed but the first and second sentence aren't tied together. PC gaming is far more than just buying new games. There are lots and lots of people that still play older ones, especially those with mod-support. Apart from that, I can still go into a store and have tons of new PC games lying there...or I go on Amazon.
As for the part...well, I would be surprised if Steam's part is bigger than 20% in PC gaming. People seem to forget all the MMOs and countries in Asia (China and South Korea especially).
 
M

MutonCommander

Banned
Ok, so based on this thread those twelve million users mainly consist of people having Steam running on boot for reasons, dummy CS:GO accounts for hacking, prankster uncles, people who opened Steam once and forgot it's there, people who opened Steam once and never shut down their PC and Valve cheating the stats.
 
F

Falk

that puzzling face
MutonCommander said:
Ok, so based on this thread those twelve million users mainly consist of people having Steam running on boot for reasons, dummy CS:GO accounts for hacking, prankster uncles, people who opened Steam once and forgot it's there, people who opened Steam once and never shut down their PC and Valve cheating the stats.
Click to expand...

and unhappy dota players
 
P

patapuf

Member
Lucumo said:
I wasn't addressed but the first and second sentence aren't tied together. PC gaming is far more than just buying new games. There are lots and lots of people that still play older ones, especially those with mod-support. Apart from that, I can still go into a store and have tons of new PC games lying there...or I go on Amazon.
As for the part...well, I would be surprised if Steam's part is bigger than 20% in PC gaming. People seem to forget all the MMOs and countries in Asia (China and South Korea especially).
Click to expand...

Yeah, if we go by "traditional" games steam has a huge marketshare, if we include the huge platform exlusive games like MMO's/MOBA's and other F2P stuff, the marketshare isn't that big.

MutonCommander said:
Ok, so based on this thread those twelve million users mainly consist of people having Steam running on boot for reasons, dummy CS:GO accounts for hacking, prankster uncles, people who opened Steam once and forgot it's there, people who opened Steam once and never shut down their PC and Valve cheating the stats.
Click to expand...

Jep, and those are such popular activities that steam is growing at a huge pace.
 
S

SparkTR

Member
-Pyromaniac- said:
PCs have just been selling less and less every year the last while. I think the last IDC numbers had it at a 5% drop YoY. Don't get me wrong it's still a shitton of PCs being sold (we're talking 100s of millions) but it's something to consider I guess.

Everybody is on a PC cycle like mentioned above. The amount of people dropping their PCs will only rise as time goes on, probably at a faster rate each and every year. I think IDC actually increased their forecast froma 3% drop to 5% for the year. I don't see that trend stopping any time soon.

Even me who has a PC that I built and have upgraded myself multiple times a year, I honestly think this will be my last time ever doing it. I'll probably get a laptop next and then eventually by the time that cycle is over everyone will have moved to mobile. Plenty of years out but if I'm at that point I imagine most people are well beyond it.
Click to expand...

It's very much the opposite. The decline of the prebuilt market (same as tablets, which are also in decline) is the decline of a market that wouldn't be able to run those AAA games. To make it clear, the majority of those prebuilt machines would struggle to run DOTA 2 let alone any AAA game. The market publishers are more directly connected to are enthusiast builds, which have been on the rise for years now and is showing no signs of stopping. That in addition to software numbers are really the only two metrics mid-sized and AAA developers should be looking at, and they're very heathly at the moment.

Historically, we're not even close to the peak penetration for the generation as far as high-end gaming is concerned on PC. During the final few years of the console cycle high-end PC gaming gets a shot in the arm and the value proposition goes up and the games start looking better, and considering how it hasn't slowed down like it usually does at the start of a new genewration, that shot in the arm should yield impressive results.
 
E

epmode

Member
Man, these threads always turn out the same.

Concurrent users is a much better metric than Valve's new active user definition.
 
B

bj00rn_

Banned
Where are the bingo cards... Has there been any Steam threads over the years with no "but.., how about ACTUAL users!" (especially odd argument considering the ratio is basically always linear..) and "but, pc sales, it's dead!" and all other "buts"? ...I hope it never stops though, it's pretty damn funny.
 
A

Akronis

Member
bj00rn_ said:
Where are the bingo cards... Has there been any Steam threads over the years with no "but.., how about ACTUAL users!" (especially odd argument considering the ratio is basically always linear..) and "but, pc sales, it's dead!" and all other "buts"? ...I hope it never stops though, it's pretty damn funny.
Click to expand...

It'll never change. A lot of people associate PCs with "nerd shit" and Excel and that's basically it.
 
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