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As subscription services become deeply ingrained in our daily lives, the year-end 'wrap-up' culture, which shows records of usage throughout the year, has naturally taken root. Just as YouTube Music tells you what genres of music you've been listening to at the end of the year, PlayStation and Steam have also introduced similar features.

The 'wrap-up' infographic is an interesting element in that it allows users to check the games they have played a lot, but in fact, what really needed a wrap-up this year was the 'Steam' platform itself. 2024 was a year of record-breaking for Steam. The number of concurrent users, which was a maximum of 33 million in 2023, increased to 35 million in March 2024 and then to an astonishing 39 million in December.

We took the time to look at which games shone in this explosive growth of Steam, and what the expected titles for Steam are this year, based on statistics provided by Steam and sites such as SteamDB.

Steam's 2024 in Numbers
Steam's Year of Breaking Records: First Time Ever with 39 Million Concurrent Users

■ 1.9 Billion Accounts, 39 Million Concurrent Users - 'Steam' Becoming a Global Platform

It has been a year of breaking amazing records for Steam. Let's take a look at what records they set and how they finished the year.

According to SteamDB's statistics, approximately29,520여 개pieces of content were released through Steam in 2024. This is an increase of about 34% compared to 21,963 in 2023. Excluding other apps such as DLC, demos, and music, about 18,900 games were released during the year. This is also an increase of about 32% compared to the previous year. The numbers may have varied each month, but simply calculating, that's more than 50 games released per day. (For reference, the month with the most game releases was October, with 1,901 games released.)

It's not just the number of games that has increased. The past year, 2024, was a very meaningful year for Steam, especially in terms of the increase in the number of concurrent users. Due to Valve's policy of not disclosing Steam's DAU (Daily Active Users) and MAU (Monthly Active Users), we rely heavily on the number of concurrent users.

In March of last year, Steam recorded 35 million concurrent users for the first time since its launch. Of course, this is not the number of people playing games at the same time. It includes people who have the platform turned on on their PC and are not doing anything. And recently, on December 16 (Korean time), this number of concurrent users exceeded 39 million, breaking the all-time high. Considering that the highest concurrent user record in 2023 was around 33 million, you can imagine how explosive the increase in Steam users was last year.

As the number of people keeping Steam on at the same time increased, so did the number of game users. In August 2024, Steam recorded a record high of 12.53 million in-game concurrent users for the first time. Compared to the fact that there were only about four times when the record exceeded ten million in 2023, it is also worth noting that in 2024, it never fell below eleven million at any moment.

This increase in Steam users has directly led to an increase in Steam's market size. According to VG Insights, a video game market research firm, approximately 715 million games were sold on Steam last year, an increase of approximately 23.5% compared to the previous year. The total revenue generated from this was also $10.8 billion (approximately ₩15.863 trillion), an increase of approximately 24.1% compared to the previous year.

■ 2024, Which Steam Games Received Attention?

So, what were the most notable games on the Steam platform in 2024, when the number of users increased like this? Every year, Steam selects the top-ranked games based on total revenue and highest concurrent users with the statistic 'Best of 20xx'. Since the specific figures for each game are not disclosed, the games that have achieved the most noticeable results are grouped into the 'Platinum' group and introduced.

Aside from games that are consistently included in the top sellers, such as PUBG and Counter-Strike, 2024 was a year with many new games making it into the top sales rankings. Based on the statistics available on SteamDB, the highest-selling title released in 2024 at the moment is’패스 오브 엑자일2’It is an unbelievable achievement that a game that will be converted to free-to-play after its official release has recorded such results during its Early Access period, which began in December.

The 2024 game with the highest concurrent users is’검은 신화: 오공’It recorded 2.4 million concurrent users, becoming a major hit that led the past year along with Palworld. Palworld followed with 2.1 million concurrent users, and 'Path of Exile 2' in third place recorded 578,000 concurrent users despite being a paid Early Access. Of course, Black Myth: Wukong is also one of the two top-grossing titles of 2024, according to the chart released by Game Discover Co.

In particular, last year saw the consecutive release of games that brought a wind of change to the Steam concurrent user rankings, which seemed like they would never change. Path of Exile 2 is one of them, but we cannot forget Marvel Rivals (480,000) and Helldivers 2 (458,000).

Meanwhile, Korean games also achieved remarkable results last year. 'Throne and Liberty', which recorded 336,000 concurrent users, was included in the Gold section of Steam's 'Best of' list three times.

Steam's △highest revenue is ranked from the top. The top 12 are Platinum, the top 24 are Gold, the top 50 are Silver, and the top 100 are Bronze. △The list of popular releases is graded based on revenue for the first two weeks of release, and △the most played is graded according to the highest number of concurrent users achieved.

'쓰론 앤 리버티’achieved 19th place in Steam's highest revenue in 2024, receiving 'Gold', and also succeeded in being listed as 'Gold' based on popular releases. It achieved another Gold by reaching over 200,000 concurrent users. (However, it is not visible in domestic statistics due to regional restrictions)

Nexon's’퍼스트 디센던트’also achieved decent results. It achieved two Golds by being included in the ranking of most popular releases with 264,000 concurrent users.

One more thing, among the figures provided by Steam, you can also look at the 'Positivity' of each game. It has some discriminating power because it is based on the evaluations left by players on tens of thousands of Steam games, but it is a good figure to look at only for reference, as there are cases where dislikes are rampant as a way to express user dissatisfaction.

However, the positivity given to the 2024 releases seems to have been quite accurate. The indie game 'Balatro', which was said to have a terrifying level of addictiveness, maintained the highest positivity score until the end of the year. Unfortunately, Balatro (96.76%) was pushed to second place by the newcomer indie game 'Miside' (96.85%). Considering that even 'Black Myth: Wukong', which was supported by Chinese fans, recorded 95.94% and ranked 7th, you can once again feel the popularity of Balatro (and Miside).

★Because you're busy, here's the gist!
- Steam, breaks record with 39 million peak concurrent users
- Over 11 million people playing Steam games simultaneously throughout the year
- Approximately 19,000 new games released in 2024
- Most releases in October (1,901), followed by November (1,834), and August (1,748)
- Approximately 715 million games sold on Steam in 2024, generating revenue of ₩15.863 trillion
- 2 games in 2024 exceeded 2 million concurrent users (Black Myth: Wukong, Palworld)
- 4 new titles entered the Steam top concurrent user chart (Wukong, Palworld, POE2, Marvel Rivals)
- Korean games that stood out? (Throne and Liberty, First Descendant)

2024 Steam Awards Winners
What are the best Steam games of the year chosen by the community?

On January 1st, Valve officially announced the winners of the 2024 Steam Awards. Until then, all members of the Steam community were given the opportunity to vote, and the winners in each category were selected based on this. In this Steam Awards, 'Black Myth: Wukong' stood out in three categories, including Game of the Year. The winners in each category are as follows.

- Game of the Year: 'Black Myth: Wukong'
- VR Game of the Year: Metro Awakening VR
- Labor of Love (Game that has supported new content with the heart of a parent since its release): Elden Ring
- Best Game on Steam Deck: God of War Ragnarok
- Better With Friends: Helldivers 2
- Outstanding Visual Style: Silent Hill 2
- Most Innovative Gameplay: Liar's Bar
- Best Game You Suck At (Historically Most Difficult Game of 24): Black Myth: Wukong
- Best Soundtrack: Red Dead Redemption
- Outstanding Story-Rich Game: Black Myth: Wukong
- Sit Back and Relax: Farming Simulator 25

2024 Steam Trends
What news did Steam have last year?

■ The Secret to Helldivers 2's Success! Will Sony Accelerate its PC Market?

Sony may not have had a completely good year in 2024, but it is also true that masterpieces such as 'Helldivers 2' and 'Astrobot' were born. Sony's policy of supporting cross-play between PC and PS5 upon release can be said to be very successful. The two platforms combined recorded a peak of 750,000 concurrent users, and although there were ups and downs in the middle, it has maintained steady popularity until now, crossing over into the new year. Last year, Sony sold approximately 7 games through Steam. This included PC conversions of masterpieces such as God of War Ragnarok and Ghost of Tsushima, as well as 'Until Dawn', which came back from the past. As Spider-Man 2 will be released on Steam on January 31, we hope that there will be more opportunities to see Sony's great games on PC this year.

■ The Sudden 'Banana' Craze (Gone as Suddenly as it Came)

When looking back at Steam's 2024, we cannot leave out the 'Banana' story. It appeared like a comet in the warm spring sun, recording a peak of 900,000 concurrent users and giving a fresh(?) shock to the Steam charts. It was just a program that allowed you to get a new banana every certain amount of time(?), with very few elements that could be defined as a game, but there was a separate reason why it was popular. That was because the rare bananas you acquired could be traded within the Steam platform. The news that you could get bananas worth millions of won made everyone start turning on bananas, and eventually, imitations such as cucumbers and cats also emerged. The craze has now subsided and become quiet, but it is still a very strange game that has not been removed from the Steam charts.

■ Always Fun Together, the Lineage of Cooperative Games

The cooperative game craze that 'Lethal Company' brought about around the end of 2023 did not easily subside even in 2024. Since then, several cooperative games have been released, and some of them, such as 'Content Warning' (peak concurrent users 204,000), were armed with unique ideas. The indie game 'Chained Together' was loved by many influencers for its concept of passing through obstacles with your waist tied to your gaming partner. As a result, it recorded 85,000 concurrent users. In fact, in that sense, 'Helldivers 2' also continued the lineage of very successful cooperative games.

■ "Highly Developed Indie Games(?) Cannot be Distinguished from AAA?"

What does this mean? Western market research firms seem to consider 'Black Myth: Wukong' to be an indie game.

According to VG Insights, indie games released on Steam in the past year, 2024, succeeded in catching up with AA/AAA games in terms of sales revenue for the first time ever. Looking at the statistics collected from January 1st to September 30th at the time, the revenue generated by indie games was $4 billion, which is 48% of the total Steam platform revenue. And behind this sales myth(?) are Palworld and Black Myth: Wukong. The market research firm classifies these two games as Triple I (Indie) games. Baldur's Gate 3 was the same last year.

Of course, it is true that the two games made the revenue of the indie game market look enormously inflated, but there is also an encouraging phenomenon. That is that indie developers who have gained experience since COVID are starting to show higher sales results. According to VG Insights, the average revenue of indie developers' second and third games is higher than their first games. When the average revenue of developers who released their first game on Steam is $120,000, the average revenue of their second and third games is $168,000 and $209,000, respectively.

■ 2024 is a Year of Indie Game Abundance? 1-Person Developers 'Made it Happen'

As if to prove the above, amazing indie games tended to be released one after another last year, 2024. In addition, the appearance of 1-person development works showing amazing results continued to appear. The'발라트로'that addicted (positively) everyone who played it was also released by a 1-person developer from Canada.

The'애니멀 웰'released in May of last year is a Metroidvania puzzle platformer that has been loved by critics, maintaining a Metascore of 91 points. It is also one of the only two games that Inven gave 100 points to, along with 'The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom'. This was also a work developed over 7 years by Billy Basso, a 1-person developer from Chicago, USA.

'매너 로드'cannot be left out either. This game, which has been popular as a medieval construction simulation, was also created by 1-person developer Slavic Magic. Despite being in Early Access, it showed high popularity, making it onto Steam's list of popular releases 'Platinum'.

If you watch a lot of personal broadcasts, you may have heard of the game'벅샷 룰렛'This is a horror turn-based puzzle game that captures the thrill of Russian roulette with a shotgun against an opponent. This was also created by 1-person developer Mike Klubnika.

These indie games are not only popular, but their sales performance is also measured to be quite high. According to the developer of 'Balatro', Balatro sold over 2 million copies in 5 and a half months after its release, and as of December 11, it exceeded 3.5 million copies sold cumulatively. The sales volume of the indie game 'Buckshot Roulette', which was loved by influencers, was also revealed, recording 4 million copies cumulatively as of December 10. Neither game has very high Steam concurrent user records, at around 40,000 and 20,000 respectively. Again, it seems difficult to measure the performance of indie games based on the number of concurrent users alone.

Looking Forward to a Fun 2025
What Games are the Steam Community Looking Forward To?

Finally, let's talk about the anticipated titles chosen by the Steam community. Although SteamDB does not provide detailed sales information for each game, it is very useful because it allows you to grasp the overall evaluation, number of followers, and concurrent users of the game. In particular, through the number of followers associated with the 'Wishlist' function in Steam, we can somewhat guess which game the community is most looking forward to the release of.

The new title that the community is most looking forward to is 'Monster Hunter Wilds'. It is also a new title in an IP with a global fan base, and you can feel its popularity just by looking at the Steam concurrent user record of 460,000 for the playtest build alone. As it is scheduled to be released on February 28, the number of users clicking the wishlist button is also rapidly increasing.

In second place is 'Deadlock', a new title being prepared by Valve. It is a 6vs6 third-person shooter, and the gameplay, which seems to be a perfect mix of their previous works 'Team Fortress 2' and 'Dota 2', has been attracting attention since the playtest. A multi-level(?) system was introduced where you could gift playtest tickets to your Steam friends, and last summer, many people could be seen playing Deadlock through word of mouth.

Third place went to 'Hollow Knight: Silksong', which became a legendary platformer after being announced in 2019 and then postponed in 2023. Will Silksong come out this year? We do not know.

In fourth place is 'Civilization 7', one of the 'Devil's Game' series, which is preparing for release on February 11. Opinions seem to be divided on the game system, which is different from the previous work, but 'Civilization' is 'Civilization'. Approximately 140,000 Steam users are following it, and as the release date approaches, the number is rapidly increasing.

Fifth place went to Krafton's life sim, 'inZOI'. In a genre dominated by 'The Sims', the absence of new titles has been effective for genre fans around the world. As it aims to be released in March 2025, we hope that it will rise to become a leading Korean Steam game that will shine in 2025.

Webzine InvenReporter Kim Gyuman
2025-01-03