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[Poetic.Injustice]

Valve's online service, Steam, is a juggernaut in the PC gaming space--and it's only continuing to grow. At the Casual Connect event recently, Valve shared new figures that speak to the enormity of the service and its expanding reach globally.

GeekWire (via GI.biz) reports that one of Valve's slides at the presentation showed that Steam had 33 million daily active players and 67 million monthly active players. By comparison, PlayStation Network had 70 million monthly active users by Sony's latest count, while Xbox Live had 53 million monthly users.

Another big number included in Valve's presentation was 27 million. That's the number of new paying members that Steam has added since January 2016. That works out to around 1.5 million per month over the past 18 months.

Valve's slide presentation also mentioned that Steam hit 14 million concurrent users recently, which is up from a peak of 8.4 million back in 2015. Overall, Valve had 125 million registered users by the company's latest count.

In terms of Steam sales by region, North America takes the biggest slice of the pie, at 34 percent, followed by western Europe at 29 percent. Asia is getting bigger and bigger for Steam, rising from just a few percentage points a few years ago to 17 percent today. The uptick in sales is attributed to users in Korea, China, and Japan.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/steam-just-revealed-some-big-figures/1100-6452314/

What counts as an active user on Steam:

Valve is actually relatively open about this number, relative to their console counterparts. They count "Active Users" as someone who owns a game and has played a game within the last month. So "Total Users' is actually significantly higher.

 

[Guymelef]

PSN, not PS4.

 

[Rizific]

So ps4 gaming is dying?

 

[FelipeMGM]

Steam monthly active users now at 67 million compared to 70 million for PS4

Just one mistake here

By comparison, PlayStation Network had 70 million monthly active users by Sony's latest count

PSN ≠ PS4

 

[MarcoZombieCannon]

*Every PlayStation with internet access

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

It's really a shame that Steam has practically a monopoly on the PC gaming market.

 

[AyaisMUsikWhore]

Umm what? Was PSN always larger than XBL in monthly users? When did this become a thing?

 

[LordKano]

How could there be more active PS4 users than consoles sold lol

 

[PrinnyBomb]

Was gonna say, I did not believe ps4 had those kind of numbers haha.

Not sure how to feel about the steam numbers, who knows how many of those accs are either csgo side accounts, tf2 idlers or Dota smurfs who paid $1 for a humble bundle (and don't even get me started on Dota account selling)

 

[SmokedMeat]

It's really a shame that Steam has practically a monopoly on the PC gaming market.

I'm not. I don't want to see them swallowed up by another, larger company.

 

[bitbydeath]

How could there be more active PS4 users than consoles sold lol

Also includes Vita and PS3.

 

[bEAST1N_G]

How could there be more active PS4 users than consoles sold lol

PSN = PS4,PS3 & PSV I guess

 

[martincrimson87]

INB4 NeoGaf starts questioning the merit of those Steam figures.

 

[Poetic.Injustice]

Mods can fix title to say PSN? Thanks.

 

[~Kinggi~]

PSN, not PS4.

I mean its the only comparison that can be made. If we are talking device users PS4 is like a tiny ant compared to PC users. Its basically comparing the online services.

 

[daxy]

Just one mistake here


PSN ≠ PS4

PC ≠ Steam and it's not really a pissing contest?

They're comparable as service providers and distributors of games/digital content.

 

[Anno]

It's really a shame that Steam has practically a monopoly on the PC gaming market.

It's not even close to a monopoly on the entire PC gaming market. More people play LoL than everything on Steam combined last we heard.

 

[Falk]

It's really a shame that Steam has practically a monopoly on the PC gaming market.

it's a shame PSN has a monopoly on PS4

(don't hurt me i have a terrible sense of humor)

PC ≠ Steam and it's not really a pissing contest?

They're comparable as service providers and distributors of games/digital content.

He was talking about the thread title which originally said PS4 while the article says PSN.

 

[Aselith]

PC ≠ Steam and it's not really a pissing contest?

They're comparable as service providers and distributors of games/digital content.

Valves numbers are for Steam though

 

[Cipherr]

It's really a shame that Steam has practically a monopoly on the PC gaming market.

It's a good thing they don't then. Massive, but far from a monopoly on PC gaming.

 

[Akronis]

It's really a shame that Steam has practically a monopoly on the PC gaming market.

There could be far worse companies monopolizing the PC market.

 

[Yearsoflurking]

I'm not. I don't want to see them swallowed up by another, larger company.

They're already the larger company. So you'll be ok with them swallowing up competition

 

[fluffydelusions]

 

[TB14]

Umm what? Was PSN always larger than XBL in monthly users? When did this become a thing?

When Europe and Asia came into existence.

 

[Aceofspades]

Umm what? Was PSN always larger than XBL in monthly users? When did this become a thing?

Since forever...

 

[Random Human]

.

 

[kingofthedead45]

it's a shame PSN has a monopoly on PS4

(don't hurt me i have a terrible sense of humor)



He was talking about the thread title which originally said PS4 while the article says PSN.

There's a monopoly on damn near every system!


I too share a terrible(if not worse) sense of humor.

 

[oti]

Umm what? Was PSN always larger than XBL in monthly users? When did this become a thing?

You think a network with half the current gen consoles is bigger than the network of the clear current gen winner and the last gen winner?

Why?

 

[jacobeid]

Umm what? Was PSN always larger than XBL in monthly users? When did this become a thing?

It's always been that way but sometimes it's hard to remember in the US at least.

so any one with "run steam when my pc starts" counts... ok legit and real statistics

Well that didn't take long lol.

 

[Solrac]

so any one with "run steam when my pc starts" counts as active user... ok legit and real statistics

 

[Xando]

Doesn’t LOL have like 100m active monthly users?

 

[Syf]

INB4 NeoGaf starts questioning the merit of those Steam figures.

"Steam opens automatically on my grandma's computer and she still counts." -Some GAF user, every time I read one of these threads.

 

[Mooreberg]

It is the best digital platform on PC. My only real gripe lately is secondary launchers being installed alongside games. They cannot possibly be skirting Valve's 30% cut on transactions, so what is the point?

 

[Inuhanyou]

The age of Sony is done.

Spoiler

good for the PC space and gaming in general, hopefully. I hope those users are spending their money on games that encourage good habits from the publishers and developers in question

 

[Armaros]

"Steam opens automatically on my grandma's computer and she still counts." -Some GAF user, every time I read one of these threads.

already too late.

 

[fluffydelusions]

so any one with "run steam when my pc starts" counts as active user... ok legit and real statistics

That has been turned off by default for years

 

[FelipeMGM]

PC ≠ Steam and it's not really a pissing contest?

They're comparable as service providers and distributors of games/digital content.

Never mentioned anything about PC, and my post has nothing to do with whatever ''pissing contest'' you are mentioning

just pointing out something that was factually wrong in the thread title

If you took anything else out of it, its prob your own mindset speaking...

 

[Marty Chinn]

GeekWire (via GI.biz) reports that one of Valve's slides at the presentation showed that Steam had 33 million daily active players and 67 million monthly active players. By comparison, PlayStation Network had 70 million monthly active users by Sony's latest count, while Xbox Live had 53 million monthly users.

Man, no wonder Microsoft can't wait for the Better Together patch to come out so they can boost their numbers up.

 

[gogojira]

so any one with "run steam when my pc starts" counts as active user... ok legit and real statistics

Yeah, they should definitely not count people who install and run Steam because that makes sense.

 

[jellies_two]

I think monthly active is deceptive - regardless of platform.
If i hit up a twitter link I am put in a slide show somewhere as a monthly active twitter user. Turn on my old iMac and steam starts and downloads it's inevitable update. Same for psn.
More interesting is monthly users that spend money or total concurrent players.

 

[Rymuth]

it's a shame PSN has a monopoly on PS4

(don't hurt me i have a terrible sense of humor)
.

Hey, I chuckled.

 

[Sad Affleck]

Monstrous numbers, it's amazing that Steam keeps growing at that rate. I actually find the other numbers more impressive. 33 million daily active players and 27 million new paying customers are insane.

 

[Huge Succeeded]

so any one with "run steam when my pc starts" counts as active user... ok legit and real statistics

so anyone with a ps3 laying around as a media player counts as an active PSN user... ok legit and real statistics

 

[Sweet Bellic]

so any one with "run steam when my pc starts" counts as active user... ok legit and real statistics

Aren't there options to automatically sign-in to PSN when you boot up your PS3/PS4 as well?

 

[oti]

I think monthly active is deceptive - regardless of platform.
If i hit up a twitter link I am put in a slide show somewhere as a monthly active twitter user. Turn on my old iMac and steam starts and downloads it's inevitable update. Same for psn.
More interesting is monthly users that spend money or total concurrent players.

MAU is totally fine. Would be interesting to know the level of engagement (like how many minutes people spend in the store or how many links they open) but MAU is the best as far as knowing how many engage with online on a very basic level.

 

[jacobeid]

so anyone with a ps3 laying around as a media player counts as an active PSN user... ok legit and real statistics

Let alone the fact that that poster completely ignores this:

Another big number included in Valve's presentation was 27 million. That's the number of new paying members that Steam has added since January 2016. That works out to around 1.5 million per month over the past 18 months.

I doubt they read anything at all past the thread title.

 

[Aselith]

so any one with "run steam when my pc starts" counts as active user... ok legit and real statistics

I use my PS4 to watch Netflix. I still count, huh?

 

[everyer]

How could there be more active PS4 users than consoles sold lol

I have 4 accounts to download different games from different regions

 

[Falk]

already too late.

"Steam opens automatically on my grandma's computer and she still counts." -Some GAF user, every time I read one of these threads.

we haven't had the 'it doesn't count if the user isn't having fun' line in a while though

 

[Fiendcode]

Also includes Vita and PS3.

Also PSP technically.