Steam Tops 40 Million Concurrent Players For First Time As We All Jump On to Play Monster Hunter Wilds

Steam, the leading digital game distributor for PC gamers, has shattered its concurrent user record once more, reaching an unprecedented peak of over 40 million players. This milestone was achieved over a weekend that coincided with the launch of Monster Hunter Wilds on February 28, 2025, with Steam registering a record-breaking 40,270,997 simultaneous users, surpassing its previous record of 39.9 million set earlier in February 2025.

According to SteamDB, Steam's concurrent user record, often seen as a measure of Valve's platform success, has been broken almost monthly since May 2024. The concurrent peak has impressively grown from 35.5 million to 40.2 million users within just over six months. Notably, this figure includes idle players—those with Steam open but not actively using it. However, the number of users actively engaged in games has also set a new record, increasing from 12.5 million to 12.8 million.

Steam experienced significant player peaks throughout 2024, breaking its record twice in March and again in July. The latest peak is largely attributed to the release of Monster Hunter Wilds, which saw a 24-hour peak of 1.38 million players. Other popular titles also contributed to the surge, with Counter-Strike 2 reaching 1.7 million concurrent users, and PUBG, Dota 2, and Marvel Rivals achieving impressive 24-hour peaks of 819,541, 657,780, and 268,283 players, respectively.

Despite its popularity, Monster Hunter Wilds has received a 'mixed' user review rating on Steam. In response, Capcom has released official guidance to address PC performance issues. Furthermore, Capcom has announced preliminary details for Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 1, which will introduce an endgame social hub for players.

For those embarking on their Monster Hunter Wilds journey, resources are available to enhance your experience. Check out what the game doesn't explicitly tell you, a comprehensive guide to all 14 weapon types, and our ongoing detailed walkthrough. Additionally, our multiplayer guide explains how to play with friends, and if you participated in one of the open betas, learn how to transfer your beta character.

IGN's review of Monster Hunter Wilds awarded it an 8/10, stating, "Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge."