Yes, it's happened again – Steam has once again broken its own concurrent player record as players continue to practice social distancing and self-isolation, spending more time at home.
Recording the spike this time was Steam Database (thanks, PC Gamer), which caught the moment 2,678,529 concurrently jumped on Steam for a little R&R. As noted by our pals at PCG, this spike once again came at around 3pm UK time, which is mid-morning for the United States and peak evening hours for Chinese players.
Steam's upward trend began in January when Chinese national began to self-isolate at the start of the COVID-19 crisis. On February 2nd, Steam's previous record of 18,537,490 users – set in January 2018 – was surpassed, smashing the existing record by an impressive 300,000 to peak at 18,801,944 players. It's been broken several times since, including last weekend which saw numbers breach 20 million for the first time.
"Steam just achieved a new peak concurrent user record of 22 million, one day after reaching 21 million and six days after reaching 20 million," tweeted video game industry analyst, Daniel Ahmad. "Global lockdowns and self-isolation due to COVID-19 has led to at-home gaming becoming a safe form of entertainment to pass the time."
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is again clocking up the most players – that too broke a concurrent record recently.
As Jordan reported last week, the news comes amidst a string of high-profile cancellations, postponements, and changes related to the alarming spread of the coronavirus. Notably, E3 2020 was cancelled, Pokemon Go implemented changes to encourage social-distancing, and Disney postponed seven live-action productions. EA has confirmed its halting all live esports events, too, and is also recommending its staff work from home, as is Rockstar.
On a more positive note, Nvidia is giving PC gamers a chance to make a real difference by using their hardware's power to access the Folding@home application, which lets you donate unused computing power to help with research into the coronavirus.
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