Helldivers 2 And Palworld Help Steam Top A Record 35M Concurrent Players

Steam hit an all-time peak yesterday with a whopping 35 million online users, 11 million of whom were in games. Of course, this record was helped along by newcomers Palworld and Helldivers 2, as well as some familiar faces that are still topping Steam’s charts. However, we might see quite the jump in this record as the Steam Spring Sale is just around the corner, and with it might come a deluge of gamers jumping in to snag incredible deals.

Yesterday, Steam’s charts showed a record number of players online, with 35,346,413 people jumping onto the platform. That has since settled down to a still impressive 28,045,500 players online at the time of writing, many of whom are not in the game but simply lurking on the platform. Regardless, while charts indicate that the popularity of Helldivers 2 and Palworld are certainly helping the numbers, that isn’t all that is being played right now. Currently, the game with the highest 24-hour peak and current number of players is Counter-Strike 2, followed by Dota 2, PUBG: Battlegrounds, and Helldivers 2.


As it stands, Baldur’s Gate 3 is beating out Palworld in the 11th position with around 80k online players at the time of writing. Despite the paltry numbers, every player online helps the Steam online players record, so it is nothing to scoff at. We can also expect to see quite the jump in online players with the upcoming Steam Spring Sale, which kicks off on March 14th at 1 PM EST (10 AM PST). Steam has released a trailer for the event, which you can check out below:


Of course, there will be deep discounts on a plethora of games as well as special additions like daily sticker drops that will draw in players, even if you do not want to buy games. This sale will run for seven days through March 21st, so you will have plenty of time to peruse all the sales and rack up plenty of stickers to send to folks. As such, keep an eye on HotHardware, as we might just see what some of the best games are up for grabs at a decent discount in the upcoming Steam Spring Sale.