{"id":25149,"date":"2026-01-02T12:37:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T04:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=25149"},"modified":"2026-01-02T12:37:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T04:37:37","slug":"these-are-steams-top-selling-and-most-played-games-at-the-start-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=25149","title":{"rendered":"These Are Steam’s Top-Selling and Most-Played Games at the Start of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The latest Steam<\/strong> data has revealed the best-selling and most-played games at the start of the new year. The top of the Steam charts features some familiar contenders, such as Counter-Strike 2<\/em>, but it will be interesting to see how things fluctuate in the months to come.<\/p>\n

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As the most popular PC digital storefront for video games, Steam has no shortage of options for gamers looking for something to play. Each year, the platform gets thousands of new titles, with 2025 seeing over 19,000 additions. The quality can vary since many are added daily, but the last year has seen some notable releases. For example, blockbusters like Battlefield 6<\/em> and ARC Raiders<\/em> fully launched in the latter part of the year. Additionally, some highly regarded indies also arrived, including Hollow Knight: Silksong<\/em> and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33<\/em>, among others. Despite many games performing well on the digital storefront, some have racked up numbers that put them above the competition.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\tHow to Turn $100 Into a Monster Steam Library This Winter Sale<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n

Steam’s Winter sale has thousands of discounts, so here’s how to get nine top-rated games on a limited budget of less than $100.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n Steam Top Sellers List
\n <\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. \n ARC Raiders\n <\/li>\n
  2. \n Steam Deck\n <\/li>\n
  3. \n Counter-Strike 2\n <\/li>\n
  4. \n Marvel Rivals\n <\/li>\n
  5. \n Baldur’s Gate 3\n <\/li>\n
  6. \n Warframe\n <\/li>\n
  7. \n Battlefield 6\n <\/li>\n
  8. \n Clair Obsur; Expedition 33\n <\/li>\n
  9. \n Dispatch\n <\/li>\n
  10. \n Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora\n <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    With 2026 just underway, Steam data shows the games that are currently performing best on the platform. Valve periodically updates its best-selling and most-played charts, and the most recent changes reveal a blend of 2025 games and older titles dominating the rankings. Regarding bestsellers, Steam compiles a list of the top 100 selling games, ordering them based on revenue. Based on the most recent information, ARC Raiders<\/em> stands at the top of the pile, beating out Counter-Strike 2<\/em>. It is worth noting that Counter-Strike 2 <\/em>is actually third on the list, as the live chart includes Valve\u2019s handheld Steam Deck, which is in the second spot. Following Valve\u2019s first-person shooter comes Marvel Rivals<\/em> and Baldur’s Gate 3<\/em>. Rounding out the top 10 are Warframe<\/em>, Battlefield 6<\/em>, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33<\/em>, Dispatch<\/em>, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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    \n Steam Most-Played Games List (Daily Players)
    \n <\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. \n Counter-Strike 2\n <\/li>\n
    2. \n Dota\n <\/li>\n
    3. \n PUBG: Battlegrounds\n <\/li>\n
    4. \n Wallpaper Engine\n <\/li>\n
    5. \n Arc Raiders\n <\/li>\n
    6. \n Geometry Dash\n <\/li>\n
    7. \n Battlefield 6\n <\/li>\n
    8. \n Apex Legends\n <\/li>\n
    9. \n War Thunder\n <\/li>\n
    10. \n Marvel Rivals\n <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      On the most played side of things, the list looks considerably different. Based on daily players, Counter-Strike 2<\/em> unsurprisingly takes first. Its peak concurrent player count for the last 24 hours was 1,515,495, which is over 800,000 more than Dota 2<\/em> in second place. Third place is occupied by PUBG: Battlegrounds<\/em>, another free-to-play game, while fourth is the popular application Wallpaper Engine<\/em>. Despite ARC Raiders<\/em> being fifth in daily players, it is still an impressive result since it is the first paid game on the list. Embark Studio\u2019s extraction shooter is followed by Geometry Dash<\/em> and Battlefield 6<\/em>. Apex Legends<\/em>, War Thunder<\/em>, and Marvel Rivals<\/em>, three more free-to-play games, round out the top 10.<\/p>\n

      It is worth mentioning that Steam also provides a list of the most-played games based on current players. Instead of showing daily users, this list is updated every 15 minutes to show the top 100 games on the PC platform. At the time of writing, several games on this chart that did not make it onto the daily player list include Rust<\/em>, Bongo Cat<\/em>, Path of Exile 2<\/em>, and Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em>. However, things can change rapidly, given that some games are more popular in certain regions.<\/p>\n

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      \"ARC\n <\/picture>Image via Embark Studios<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

      It will be interesting to see how these charts change as the year progresses. Since ARC Raiders<\/em>‘ full launch on October 30, the extraction shooter has shown impressive staying power on Steam. With this in mind, the game seems poised to continue to be near the top of the charts if Embark Studios can keep the experience fresh for players through new updates. Conversely, Battlefield 6<\/em>\u2019s player count has dropped substantially since launch, so time will tell if DICE can keep the game near the top 10 in the coming months. There are also numerous new game releases scheduled for the first half of 2026. These could potentially shift the order of most-played and best-selling games, but stalwarts like Counter-Strike 2<\/em> will likely remain near or at the top for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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      The latest Steam data has revealed the best-selling and most-played games at the start of the new year. The top of the Steam charts features…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,5944,1588,6035,14929,791],"class_list":["post-25149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-games","tag-mostplayed","tag-start","tag-steams","tag-topselling","tag-year","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}