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With games getting larger and larger every year, here are some tips for how to speed up your Steam downloads. This image is part of an article on how to play Steam VR games on Meta Quest 3.

The 10 Highest All-Time Player Peaks on Steam

Black Myth: Wukong has released and is breaking all sorts of records on Steam. Seeing it rise to the top is impressive. However, it gets even more impressive when you realize exactly what other games it’s beating. Here are the 10 highest all-time player peaks on Steam.

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The 10 Highest All-Time Player Peaks on Steam

Using SteamDB, we tracked down the games with the highest all-time player peaks on Steam. And while some games on this list won’t surprise you, it’s likely you won’t guess which game takes the top spot.

10. New World

Image of soldiers facing off against each other in a castle courtyard

Coming in at the 10th place spot is New World. This open world MMORPG from Amazon Games was thought to be the next big thing, and captivated quite an audience for a time. New World has an impressive all-time peak of 913,634. However, the cracks in the game quickly showed, and the has game lost a vast majority of its players. Now, the game has a peak of 4,025 players within the last 24 hours, as of August 22nd.

9. Banana

Image of a banana on a yellow green background
Image by aaladin66/Pony/Sky/AestheticSpartan

Banana is a simple yet apparently captivating clicker game. The game sees players click on a Banana to spawn more bananas. With a unique community focus, Banana attracted 917,272 players at its all-time peak. This novel title has retained a decent chunk of that audience, with a 24 Hour Peak of over half its all-time record at 468,115 players.

Related: The 15 Hardest FromSoftware Bosses of All Time

8. Elden Ring

Image of Radagon Elden Ring with his back shattered, revealing the rune within

It’s no surprise that Elden Ring has one of the highest all-time player counts on Steam. Over a decade after pioneering the Souls-Borne genre, FromSoftware released their magnum opus. Elden Ring combines the addictingly challenging gameplay of the genre, a massive open world, and rich lore from Game of Thrones writer George R. R. Martin. Elden Ring has an all time player count of 953,426. Since it is mostly a single player game with long times between expansions, the recent 24 hour peak is at 70,836 players.

7. Cyberpunk 2077

Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077. Johnny stares at the player with a blue sky behind him.

CD Projekt Red’s massive RPG set in Night City has the seventh highest player peak of all-time. After nearly a decade of hype, Cyberpunk 2077 had a massive launch, helped by its December 2020 release date which put it in the height of lockdown when more people were playing games than ever before. The game has an all-time peak of 1,054,388 players.

Due to it being a single player game without frequent updates, the player base is now far smaller. Cyberpunk 2077 recent peak was 31,949 players. The title did, however, get a large boost to its player count when the Phantom Liberty expansion released in September 2023.

6. Dota 2

Image of a woman with fire for hair holds up an emblem while a variety of titles run in the background
Image via Valve.

Dota 2 has been one of the most popular multiplayer games on PC for over a decade, so its no surprise it had a massive peak of concurrent players. Dota 2’s highest all-time peak is a big jump from the next closest title, with 1,295,114 players. Dota 2 has retained a large portion of its community, with 603,871 players in the last 24 hours.

5. Lost Ark

Lost Ark Classes stare at a demon in a stony, red-mist arena

Lost Ark is an MMO action RPG which released in South Korea in 2014. This free to play title is now published by Amazon Games, and still regularly receives updates.

Lost Ark had its highest all-time peak with 1,325,305 players. Unfortunately, the game has a far smaller player base today with only 26,626 players within the last 24 hours. Even still, Lost Ark has a roadmap of content set to release through the fall, so the game is still going strong.

4. Counter Strike 2

Two soldiers with glowing red eye gear point their guns at the screen

Counter Strike 2 is perhaps the biggest shooter on PC, and remains so to this day. Since Counter Strike: Global Offensive released over a decade ago, this series has dominated the market for competitive shooters for PC players. With its tactical gameplay, cosmetic economy, and old-school feel, Counter Strike 2 remains a cult favorite.

Counter Strike 2 has an all-time player peak of 1,818,773. Its community is still going strong, with lots of dedicated fans still playing. Counter Strike 2 retains the majority of its player base, averaging over a million players concurrently every day.

Related: All New Pals and Where to Find Them in Palworld

3. Palworld

A woman stands beside several Pals at night with cherry blossoms in the background
Image via PocketPair

Cracking into third place and getting that bronze medal is Palworld. This unique game launched in early access in the beginning of 2024, and seemed to dominate headlines and social media for weeks. The game had a massive initial popularity with a huge community excited to try out the survival game which had been described as Pokemon with guns.

This appeal drew in a massive concurrent player count, with an all-time peak of 2,101,867 concurrent users close to its launch. Its important to note that since this is only the Steam chart, it doesn’t include users who tried the game through a game pass service. Unfortunately, the hype behind the game has died down and only a small fraction of its players are still active, with a peak of just under 30,000 players within the last day. With Xbox now supporting Palworld’s developers and a roadmap planned leading up to its full release, it is entirely possible that Palworld could have another resurgence.

2. Black Myth: Wukong

A large man reaches towards Wukong, wreathed in mists with several buildings in the background

By far the most recent release on this list, Black Myth: Wukong had an absolutely massive launch on August 20th. Like Elden Ring, this title is also inspired by FromSoftware’s Souls games. Black Myth: Wukong has intense melee combat and extremely difficult bosses. Perhaps what is most unique about this title is how Chinese developer Game Science has incorporated mythology.

Black Myth: Wukong has its all-time player peak at 2,415,714 players, a number shared with its 24 hour peak. It’s possible that the game could still top both of those numbers, especially as hype goes strong into its first weekend.

1. PUBG: Battlegrounds

Image of a man in a button up shirt with a helmet on stands in front of rubble

It should be no surprise that Player Unkown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) has the highest all-time player peak in Steam history. This massive battle royale game exploded in popularity with players and content creators alike, which just fed into one-another to make the title continue to grow. PUBG popularized the battle royale craze before games like Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone and Apex Legends came onto the scene.

It seemed that being early helped PUGB get Winner Winner Chicken Dinner, with an all-time peak of 3,257,248 players. The game still has a fairly active community, with just under 600,000 players active within the last 24 Hours.

PUBG is available to play here.


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Haiden Lovely
Haiden is a Contributor at The Escapist who has been writing about games since 2023. They love a good live-service shooter, especially Call of Duty: Zombies and have a complicated relationship with Madden Ultimate Team. Haiden brings experience in writing about games and entertainment, video production and podcast hosting from Strangely Awesome Games.