Valve has dropped the Best of Steam 2023, recapping on the top games of last year by revenue, peak concurrent players, and daily active players across multiple different categories. While there’s plenty of the usual suspects making their way onto the charts, there’s a few surprises that have inched their way in after a pretty massive year for gaming.
The top sellers in the Best of Steam list for the year, which are measured by gross revenue, includes a mix of popular free-to-play multiplayer titles like Apex Legends, Destiny 2, Counter-Strike 2 and PUBG, as well as a number of 2023’s biggest titles including Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield (with Cyberpunk 2077 making its way in there thanks in part to the 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty DLC). One of the more surprising entries into the ‘Platinum’ section of Steam’s top sellers for the year is Sons of the Forest which held its own against some pretty huge titles both new and old.
Endnight Games’ title also sits comfortably in the top-selling releases of 2023 on Steam (again by gross revenue) alongside Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield again, as well as other games like Remnant II, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Street Fighter 6. Interestingly, Payday 3 and Cities: Skylines II both also charted in the Platinum top-sellers category for 2023’s best-selling Steam launches, despite receiving some pretty negative reviews on release. Other new titles which had breakout success on Steam this year such as BattleBit: Remastered, Dave the Diver, and the very-recently launched The Finals all made it into the Gold tier.
When it came to the most-played games on Steam in 2023, the Best of Steam charts have measured this by peak concurrent players. PUBG and Counter-Strike 2 are up there (as perhaps can be expected) alongside another win for Sons of The Forest, but there’s also a surprise inclusion of Goose Goose Duck, the social deduction game which launched in October.
The Steam Deck category, which measured the most-played games of 2023 by daily active players, is one of the more interesting categories and paints a rather different picture of gaming habits for the year. Among the most-played games on the Steam Deck are Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, The Witcher 3, and Dave The Diver – but there’s also the surprise appearance of Half-Life despite its 1998 launch date. Gamers do still love Half-Life, it seems – especially on the Steam Deck.
Early Access titles on Steam that performed best by gross revenue include Disney Dreamlight Valley, Dave the Diver (again), and Baldur’s Gate 3 prior to its full launch in August, with farming and life sims also getting their time in the sun thanks to titles My Time at Sandrock and Sun Haven. Marvel Snap also got a look in after launching to pretty positive reviews for the strategy card game.
The Best of Steam 2023 also runs through the most-played games with controllers and top VR games for the year, which you can check out via the landing page on Steam here. On top of showcasing exactly what caught players’ attention (and took up most of their gaming time) in the last year, the best-performing titles are also on sale if you’ve yet to pick them up and see what all the buzz is about.
What was your top Steam game in 2023? Let us know in the comments.
Lead Image Credit: Valve
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