Jan 26, 2022

Steam News - andrewl ***

With 2021 in the history books, we're happy to announce Steam's Top Releases for the month of December. As with previous lists, we look at every release for the month, highlighting the Top 20 games and Top 5 DLC releases based on their first two weeks of revenue. We also highlight the top 5 free-to-play games, ranked by the number of unique players they acquired after launch.

The Top Releases of December 2021

Happy New Year(s)

Between the Steam Awards reveal and the culmination of the Steam Winter Sale, there was certainly no shortage of exciting moments to cap off the year. In much the same way that we welcomed the New Year and bid farewell to 2021, about half of the games on December's Top Release list either made their debuts into Early Access or graduated from it. The open-world RPG Sands of Salzaar and the cooperative shooter GTFO both launched out of Early Access after much development during 2021. And as if sensing an Early Access void in those genres, Wartales and Ready or Not launched into their own Early Access journeys for 2022. If one New Year transition wasn't exciting enough, we're already preparing for the upcoming Lunar New Year celebration. Make sure to check back for a ferocious amount of discounts across the Steam catalog.

Next Best Thing

While browsing December’s Top Releases, we were more than happy to see several games that participated in one of Steam's 2021 Next Fests. For those unfamiliar, Steam Next Fests are multi-day celebrations of unreleased games, where hundreds of free demos can be enjoyed alongside a full schedule of developer livestreams and Q&A sessions. For devs, these events provide an opportunity to test a wide range of features and ideas, while simultaneously generating increased wishlist activity. For players, Next Fests can be as simple as a few minutes of enjoyment with a singleplayer demo, or as immersive as a weekend with friends, sampling everything the festival has to offer. So after checking out December’s Top Releases, make sure you set a reminder for the upcoming February Next Fest.

New Devs

As with previous months, we'd also like to congratulate the teams that are releasing their first Steam game. Some of these teams have been making games for a while on other platforms, while others are making their very first commercial game. A big welcome and congrats go out to these development teams on their successful Steam debuts.

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If you're curious about previous months, here are more Top Release lists:

Dec 27, 2021

The Best of 2021

Steam News - andrewl

With just a handful of days left until The New Year, we’re excited to look back at some of 2021’s top sellers, most-played games, new releases, and more! As with previous years, we've organized several Best Of lists that each showcase how great 2021 was for players, developers, and all of the games in between. Before we see what 2022 has in store, let's look back at the Best of Steam - 2021.

As you've probably noticed by now, the Steam Winter Sale is in full swing, with 1000s of discounts across the store. So if you're looking for a sale on the best games of the year, we recommend browsing some of these lists!

For anyone jumping straight into the lists, we recommend reading the notes at the bottom of this page, which explain some of the technical criteria for how the lists are generated.

Top Sellers

The Top Sellers list is exactly what it sounds like - a look at the 100 games earning the most revenue on Steam during 2021. To get the total revenue, we look at game sales, in-game transactions, and DLC sales for every app on Steam from January 1st, 2021 through December 15th, 2021.

Being the sixth time we've organized the yearly Top Sellers list, it's quite interesting to look back and see which games have become perennial champs, while also perusing the brand new hits that smashed their way to the top.

In terms of titles new to this list, 2021 was a good year for games making their debut in both the Platinum category as well as the list overall. Six games made their debuts in the Platinum category this year (New World, Valheim, NARAKA: BLADEPOINT, Apex Legends, Battlefield™ 2042, and Dead by Daylight), with more than a third of the entire list being comprised of first-time Top Seller appearances. Many of these debuts are new releases for 2021, but a handful of older titles also cracked into the top 100, thanks to continued passion from their developers and dedicated community support from players.

Meanwhile, many of the perennial leaders continued to enjoy success on Steam. Dota 2, CS:GO, and Grand Theft Auto V all remain in the Platinum category for the sixth-straight year, which comes as no surprise to the passionate fans that launched these games throughout 2021. Five-time appearances in the Platinum category include PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege.
A special shoutout to Destiny 2 as well, which has made the Platinum three years running since its Steam release in 2019.

Top Sellers of 2021

Top New Releases

If you follow Steam posts throughout the year, you may have seen monthly lists highlighting the Top 20 games released each month throughout 2021. We've assembled those lists in one handy spot, but have also generated a top 25 list of new releases looking at the entire year. The list is created by looking at the thousands of game releases of 2021 and showcasing the Top 25 based on the revenue they generated during the first two weeks following their launch.

For last year's New Release list, we looked at which months were the most represented in the yearly Top 25. We thought it would be interesting to do that again and see how they compare. Similarly to last year, the autumn season includes a concentration of hugely successful top releases, with a bit of a lull in games during the winter months. We are also pleased to see that every month made the cut in 2021:

Top 25 new releases by month (congrats November!)

Month

2020

2021

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Top New Releases of 2021

Most Played Games

Unlike the lists that are based on commercial success, the Most Played list showcases games that achieved the highest numbers of players through December 15th, 2021. We've included every game that reached more than 30,000 players for the year, grouping them into buckets based on the number of players they reached. Like in previous years, we exclude player spikes caused by free weekends, giveaways, and other anomalous events.

It's already a massive challenge to create a product with enough interest and support to become a Most Played game. If a game achieves that, managing thousands of players presents a whole new set of challenges for developers. We noticed that many of the Most Played games this year took full advantage of two newer features on Steam that help overcome those challenges: Steam Playtests and Steam Next Fests. Both allow developers to get their products into the hands of thousands of players, testing server loads and adjusting matchmaking features, all while generating excitement and wishlist growth in the community. For the players who make this Most Played list come to life, Steam Playtests and Next Fests give exciting peeks into development, as well as more confidence to make informed purchasing decisions.

Most Played Games of 2021

Top Early Access Graduates

The Early Access list represents the top selling games that launched out of Early Access in 2021. We create this list based on all the revenue earned through December 15th, 2021 by any app that exited out of Early Access during that time.

Early Access continued to be a popular development model on Steam throughout 2021, with well over 1000 games launching with it during the year. But this list is about the graduates, who have all come a long way from their debuts. Some of them made quick progressions through their Early Access milestones, while others steadily progressed through years of development. Although each has a unique path and story, they all stand as shining examples of the amazing games that Early Access can produce.

Top Early Access Graduates of 2021

Top Selling VR Games

The Top Selling VR list represents the 100 best-selling VR-only experiences of 2021. Like the Top Sellers list, these are based on revenue. While many games on Steam offer supplemental VR modes and experiences, we limit this list to VR-only to showcase games that are designed solely for the virtual realm.

The VR catalogue continued to grow in 2021 with over 500 new VR-only games released throughout the year. Many of these releases made their way onto this year's Top Selling list, which features dozens of titles making their debuts. However, the stalwarts at the top remain unchallenged this year, with only one new game appearing in the Platinum category (Into the Radius).

Although this list requires that an app be VR-only, many existing games on Steam added VR support and VR dedicated modes throughout the year. If you're thinking of buying a VR device, chances are you might have a game in your library with optional VR support.

Top Selling VR Games of 2021

Top Controller Games

This list represents the games that registered the most controller sessions during the year. Specifically, it's a ranking of games based on the highest number of unique controller players that they reached through December 15th, 2021.

With the growth of games and player numbers on Steam during 2021, it's not surprising that the amount of controller sessions went up during the year as well. Whether it was a console controller, a flight stick, or a dance pad, millions of unique devices connected players to their games during 2021.

Games within the sports genre have always been popular with controllers, but 2021 took that to another level with soccer specifically. EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21 returned to the Platinum category this year, joined by its successor, FIFA 22. And if two wasn't enough, eFootball™ 2022 joined them, giving soccer games a 25% share of the Platinum category. Variety awaits those who delve a bit further into the list though, with plenty of other sporting options, along with other genres that are begging to be enjoyed with any input device.

Most Played Controller Games of 2021

Notes

A couple of notes regarding the lists themselves. Since we don't divulge revenue specifics for the games on these lists, we sort them into categories to give an idea of how they stack up. Games are randomly sorted within the following categories:

Platinum: 1st - 12th
Gold: 13th - 24th
Silver: 25th - 40th
Bronze: 41st - 100th

The games on the Most Played lists are organized by peak concurrent player count and grouped into thresholds based on the number of players.

Finally, when generating these lists, we are looking at data from January 1st 2021 through December 15th, 2021.

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If you've made it this far and still want more, check out previous years here:

-Happy Holidays from everyone on the Steam Team!

Dec 21, 2021

Top Releases of November 2021

Steam News - andrewl

We're happy to announce our Top Releases of November 2021

As always, we look at every game released for the month, highlighting the Top 20 games and Top 5 DLC releases based on their first two weeks of revenue. We also highlight the top 5 free-to-play games, ranked by the number of unique players they acquired after launch.

The Top Releases of November 2021

Riot Forged

Many fans have been anticipating the release of new content from Riot Forge, a publishing effort aimed at creating brand new games from the wildly-popular League of Legends universe. This month features the debut Riot Forge RPG, Ruined King: A League of Legends Story™, which has captivated long-time players and new fans alike. It's great to see positive reactions from nostalgic players, fond of familiar characters and lore, alongside praise from newcomers, thrilled with the unique game design and art style.

Audiences Abroad

With development studios on Steam coming from every corner of the world, it's encouraging to see positive regional trends. For example, Chinese developers continue to bring popular new content to Steam, while finding increased success with players all around the world. This month's Top Release, Gunfire Reborn, is a perfect example of this success: developed by a studio in China, but gaining the majority of players from other regions of the world. In fact, Chinese developers have seen a 300% growth in sales from non-Chinese markets in the past year alone. It's of course awesome news for these devs, but the real excitement is for players, who now have increased variety when choosing which Top Release to play next.

Welcome New Devs

This month also features a whole new batch of games that are coming from development studios new to Steam. Several of these teams have been making games for quite some time, while others are making their very first commercial product. A big welcome and congrats go out to these development teams for their successful Steam debuts

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If you're curious about previous months, here are more Top Release lists:

Dec 17, 2021

Steam Labs Experiment 13: Store Hubs

Steam News - Christen

With Steam Labs Experiment 10 last December, we introduced dozens of new genres, categories, and tags to our store’s navigation. Today we're launching Experiment 13, where we’ve revamped these destinations, or store hubs, with powerful new tools for browsing, filtering, and exploring deeper into each category.

When you join the experiment from the Steam Labs page, you will find that every category and tag page on the store has been updated, introducing these new layouts and features to hundreds of niche destinations throughout. You'll encounter these pages by exploring the "Categories" drop-down in the store menu, or by clicking on tags from a game's store page.

Including new ways to browse every niche of Steam

Rich Recommendations Carousel

The most notable feature of the new hubs is the carousel of featured games right at the top of the page. Much like our previous design, this area features new, top-selling, and discounted titles through the lens of our recommendations system which takes into account the games you’ve played, your friends' recommendations, and the curators and developers you follow. The new carousel features more metadata about each game, including tags, release date, and review score, plus a large presentation of the game’s micro trailer, a feature which you may remember from Steam Labs Experiment 1.

Recent & Upcoming Events

Keep up to date on the latest news, updates, and events happening in games across Steam, niche by niche. Within each hub, you'll find a section featuring in-game events, recent updates, and news posts from the developers of games you play, those you wish for, or those which are recommended for you.

More Personalized Recommendations

Our tag-driven recommendations are also listed for you on the new hubs, making it easy to discover titles tagged similarly to the games you've been enjoying.

Items from Your Wishlist

Relevant items you've added to your Wishlist are now conveniently displayed on every Store Hub.

Powerful Sorts & Filters

Our new content hub design features powerful new filtering tools which we first introduced with Steam Labs Experiment 12. This new section allows you to sort by new and trending, top selling, top rated, or discount amount. And you can filter by features, tags, or your own shopping preferences like language support or whether to hide some of the games you've already discovered.

Try it out, then let us know what you think!

To join this experiment and try the new Store Hubs, just visit the Steam Labs page and click on "Join The Store Hubs Experiment" for Experiment 13. It will redirect you to one of the updated hubs so you can start exploring right away.

Join the Experiment

Once you've joined the experiment, you can find just the thing you're looking for, such as upcoming co-op survival games, the new and trending atmospheric, story-rich, open world games, the top-rated roguelike space games, current deals on third-person, single player action games, or whatever your thing might be.

You can also check out an example of the themes these new hubs enable. Our Space Hub demonstrates this theming in action.

Have a feature request in the new hubs? Spot a bug? Want to express your thoughts? Join us in the discussion forums. We'd love to hear what you think.

Nov 30, 2021

Top Releases of October 2021

Steam News - andrewl

We're happy to announce our Top Releases of October 2021

As with previous lists, we look at every release for the month, highlighting the Top 20 games and Top 5 DLC releases based on the first two weeks of revenue. We also highlight the top 5 free-to-play games, ranked by the number of unique players they acquired after launch.

The Top Releases of October 2021

Big Names

It comes as no surprise for a Top Release list, but October was filled with marquee franchises popular around the world. These franchises aren't exclusive to gaming either, with characters and stories cherished by movie-goers and bookworms of all ages. Look no further than the Steam debut of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, which has captivated fans for years with its acclaimed manga series. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy also landed on Steam this month, becoming a household name over the last decade in comic book shops and box offices everywhere. For Age of Empires IV, the latest installment of this beloved PC franchise will expand into academia, as students will be given a unique opportunity to earn college credit by combining history lessons with base-building.

Party Time

October's Top Releases also feature plenty of opportunities for teamwork. With nearly half of this month's releases offering a healthy bite of co-op content, friends and families need only decide what flavor they are in the mood for. Hosting an end-of-year holiday party? Look no further than Escape Simulator, Goose Goose Duck, or Jackbox Party Pack 8 - each bringing its own unique blend of challenge and simplicity. In need of something a bit more dark or visceral? Team up for some zombie slashing action in Back 4 Blood or clutch your friends tightly while navigating the latest frightening chapter of The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes.

Welcome New Devs

We're always happy to see fresh new content from teams releasing a game on Steam for the first time. Some of these teams have been making games for a while on other platforms, while others are making their very first commercial game. A big welcome and congrats go out to these development teams on their successful Steam debuts.

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If you're curious about previous months, here are more Top Release lists: