Top of the valve Steam’s best list of 2020 are the usual suspects like Destiny 2, Counter-Strike, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Terraria, but there are a surprising number of newcomers like Among Us and Cyberpunk 2077 that were released just a few weeks back.
Like clockwork every year, Valve launches its list of the top-played games of the year on Steam – sorted by how many simultaneous players each game had.
Each of these games has more than 200,000 concurrent players at its peak, with Cyberpunk 2077 reaching a record high of 1,054,388 players on December 12th.
While you can definitely look at lists of the best games of the year (including our Game of the Year 2020 list) to find out what was new and hot in 2020, top-seller lists like Steam each year give the clearest picture of what gamers bought and played the past few months.
Here is a complete list of the top ten games:
- Destiny 2
- Between us
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Life is weird 2
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Mount & Blade 2: Banner Lord
- DOTA 2
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
- Monster Hunter World
- Terraria
Are you looking for multiplayer games and extra content? Look no further
Sales data is interesting in itself, but it can paint a bigger picture for us. The number of concurrent players, for example, is a good indication of active online communities and the more active an online community is, the easier it will be to find multiplayer matches.
If we look at the list, all but one of the games were released more than a year ago – that is, although it is a list of the most played games in 2020, gamers mostly play even older games. Why? Some of these games are free to play, others are fairly inexpensive, but all offer a fair amount of content to explore.
Take, for example, Grand Theft Auto 5 which remains popular seven years after its initial release thanks to updates and fresh Grand Theft Auto Online content, or Destiny 2 with many multiplayer modes.
What’s the moral here? If you need something new to play, and you want it to last for a while, Steam’s most popular list may be a good place to start looking – even if most games seem a few years old. is.
- Looking for something new to play? Do not miss our guide to the best computer games