The Coronavirus outbreak has brought some game companies to their knees. However, some other companies have also seen some success from it. According to the Steam Database, the PC Gaming platform has broken the record for concurrent users. While the COVID-19 virus isn’t explicitly said to be the cause; it’s very likely to be the case.
So, how high is the current user number? Well, according to the database, the platform set a new all-time high for the number of concurrent users on the gaming service at the weekend; hitting 20 million for the first time ever. Of course, since many of the users are currently in self-quarantine to prevent the infection of the virus, this is to be expected.
#Steam has just reached a new concurrent online user record of 20 million, with 6.2 million currently in-game, likely due to many people staying at home due to the #coronavirus.https://t.co/bzLMfMOJvD#COVID19
— Steam Database (@SteamDB) March 15, 2020
The record was achieved back on Sunday (March 15). As observed at the time of the tweet, of those 20 million, 6.2 million were actually playing a game. In other words, it’s very likely that some of the users were just using their computer while having Steam open in the background. However, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t people playing video games during the weekend.
CS:GO Also Reaches a Million Users
Again, while not explicitly mentioned being the cause; It’s very likely that the Coronavirus outbreak had an impact on the increased userbase that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive had. The game managed to break 1 million concurrent users on Saturday, March 14.
This puts CS:GO next to other games like PUBG and DOTA 2 in terms of games that broke 1 million concurrent players. Gaming is still the ultimate past-time and PC gamers are definitely going to enjoy playing their games a bit more while waiting for the Coronavirus threat to subside.
Of course, some PC gamers are helping the fight against the virus thanks to NVIDIA. Meanwhile, some other companies are allowing their workers to work from home instead. So, at the very least a lot of people will have a chance to either clear their gaming backlog or to experiment with new games.
What are your thoughts on the recent record broken by Steam? Were you a part of the 20 million active users? Are you a PC gamer? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Did you know that Resident Evil 3 Remake will get a demo on PC? Read all about it here.