Starfield, Baldur's gate 3, and Hogwarts Legacy Lead Steam's End Of Year Stats

While most of the major gaming companies released player-specific wrap-up stats earlier this month, today Valve decided to share some platform-wide statistics, highlighting the most played Steam games of the year. To avoid divulging specifics, the entries are not ranked individually but by category. The top twelve games are in the platinum section, the next 13 are in the gold section, the next 25 are in the silver section, and the last 50 are in bronze. Within those categories, however, entries are "randomly sorted," so it's unclear which specific game came out at the top of the heap in any specific category. Still, it's interesting data. Hogwarts Legacy, Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield, and Sons of the Forest each make the platinum category of almost every list they qualify for. Baldur's Gate 3 nearly completes a full sweep, but it doesn't quite make the cut for the controller platinum category, and there isn't a VR version. It's also interesting to see The Witcher 3, a nearly nine-year-old game, reach the top of the Steam Deck charts, but maybe not as impressive as Half-Life, released in 1998, which has a spot on that same list. Here are the categories, their sorting criteria, and the games that made the top 12. Top Sellers Starfield Description: These are the best-selling games on Steam based on total gross revenue earned in 2023. PUBG: Battlegrounds Apex Legends Cyberpunk 2077 Starfield Baldur's Gate 3 Dota 2 Hogwarts Legacy Call of Duty Destiny 2 Lost Ark Sons of the Forest Counter Strike 2 New Releases Hogwarts Legacy Description: These are the best-selling releases of 2023. This list is created by looking at every game released in 2023, then selecting the top ones based on their first two weeks of revenue after launching. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon Starfield Baldur's Gate 3 Remnant 2 Hogwarts Legacy Resident Evil 4 Remake Sons of the Forest Payday 3 FC24 Cities Skylines 2 Street Fighter 6 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Most Played Destiny 2 Description: These are the most-played games of 2023, showcasing all games that eclipsed 40,000 peak players during 2023. Games are grouped by the number of peak concurrent player counts that they reached. We've excluded brief spikes in player counts due to things like giveaways and free weekends. PUBG: Battlegrounds Apex Legends Starfield Baldur's Gate 3 Dota 2 Hogwarts Legacy Goose Goose Duck Destiny 2 Lost Ark Sons of the Forest Counter Strike 2 Note: Because this section is sorted by highest concurrent player count, the platinum section lists the 11 games that had a peak of over 300,000 concurrent players. Early Access Baldur's Gate 3 Description: This list showcases the Top Early Access grads of 2023 measured by gross revenue earned throughout the year, including Early Access and post-graduation revenue. Everspace 2 Sun Haven Baldur's Gate 3 Dave the Diver Wartales Disney Dreamlight Valley Marvel Snap Against the Storm Ready or Not Demonologist My Time at Sandrock Farlight 84 Steam Deck Dave the Diver Description: This list includes the most played games on the Steam Deck during 2023, measured by their daily active player counts throughout the year. We include games with a Deck Verified status of Verified or Playable. Grand Theft Auto V Dave the Diver Cyberpunk 2077 Starfield Baldur's Gate 3 Half-Life Hogwarts Legacy Vampire Survivors Resident Evil 4 Remake Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Elden Ring Controller FC24 Description: This list includes the games that registered the most controller sessions during the year. Specifically, it's the games that notched the highest numbers of those unique players, regardless of controller type. Apex Legends Resident Evil 4 Remake Starfield Elden Ring Rocket League FC24 Street Fighter 6 EA Sports FIFA 23 Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon Hogwarts Legacy Call of Duty NBA 2K23 VR Half-Life: Alyx Description: These are the Top VR games based on revenue earned during 2023. 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 a virtual headset. Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2 VTOL VR Ghosts of Tabor Into the Radius VR Boneworks The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR Gorilla Tag Half-Life: Alyx Blade and Sorcery Bonelab Beat Saber Pavlov VR Are there any games you're surprised to see? Any glaring omissions? Let us know in the comments!