GameDiscoverCo analyst Simon Carless estimates Steam reached roughly 198 million monthly active users in late 2025, likely crossing 200 million in 2026 — which would make it over 50% larger than PlayStation Network’s 125 million MAUs reported by Sony as of 31 March 2026 (via RespawnFirst).
- The Steam figure is an estimate, not an official Valve number. It extrapolates from Steam’s EU Digital Services Act disclosure of 31.1 million EU users combined with bandwidth data.
- Valve’s last official figure was 132 million MAUs back in 2021, so any growth since then is model-based rather than confirmed.
- Steam’s own concurrency records — a 42 million-plus all-time peak in early 2026, up from around 24 million in 2020 — independently support the picture of a much bigger audience.
Steam may now be the biggest gaming platform on the planet by a comfortable margin. According to new estimates from GameDiscoverCo founder Simon Carless, Valve’s storefront hit roughly 198 million monthly active users in the second half of 2025 and has likely crossed 200 million in 2026. Set against Sony’s officially reported 125 million monthly active PlayStation Network users as of 31 March 2026, that would make Steam over 50% larger than PlayStation.
How the 200 million figure was worked out
Valve doesn’t publish regular user numbers, so Carless got creative. Under the EU’s Digital Services Act, Steam is legally required to disclose its European user base, and that notice revealed an average of 31.1 million monthly active users in the EU during H2 2025. Carless then compared that figure against Steam’s public bandwidth distribution data to estimate what share of Steam’s total audience Europe represents, arriving at roughly 198 million monthly users globally.
It’s a clever methodology, but it is worth being clear about what it is: an extrapolation, not a disclosure. The last official number from Valve was 132 million monthly active users in 2021, and that remains the most recent confirmed figure. Sony’s 125 million, by contrast, comes straight from its own reporting. So the ‘50% larger’ claim depends on accepting an analyst’s model against an audited number.
That said, the estimate isn’t floating in a vacuum. Steam’s publicly trackable concurrency data shows an all-time peak of more than 42 million simultaneous users in early 2026 — over double the pandemic-era peak of around 24 million in 2020. Whatever the exact MAU figure, the audience has clearly grown enormously since Valve last spoke up.
| Platform | Monthly active users | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Steam (2025–26) | ~198–200 million | Analyst estimate |
| Steam (2021) | 132 million | Last official Valve figure |
| PlayStation Network (March 2026) | 125 million | Official Sony figure |
Publishers already treat PC as a first-class platform
Whether the true number is 160 million or 200 million, the industry has been acting on Steam’s scale for a while. More big releases launch day one on PC than ever, and Xbox has effectively treated Windows as a home platform for years through Game Pass and the Xbox app. Sony’s approach is more selective — live-service titles arrive on PC quickly, while first-party single-player blockbusters take a slower route — though as we’ve covered, Sony’s PC push has already made billions, which somewhat undercuts any argument that PC is a secondary market.
Valve’s commercial momentum backs this up too. Steam pulled in a record $1.6 billion in revenue in December, and its dominance of PC digital distribution — roughly three-quarters of the market, well ahead of Epic and Microsoft’s stores — remains unchallenged.
FAQ
Is Steam really bigger than PlayStation?
By monthly active users, very likely yes — but the exact margin is uncertain. Analyst Simon Carless estimates Steam at roughly 198–200 million MAUs, versus Sony’s official 125 million for PlayStation Network as of March 2026. Valve’s last confirmed figure was 132 million in 2021, so the 200 million number is an estimate rather than an official disclosure.
Where does the 200 million Steam users estimate come from?
It starts with Steam’s legally required EU Digital Services Act disclosure, which listed 31.1 million monthly active users in the EU during the second half of 2025. GameDiscoverCo’s Simon Carless combined that with Steam’s public bandwidth distribution data to estimate Europe’s share of the total audience, arriving at roughly 198 million global monthly users.
Has Valve confirmed Steam’s current user numbers?
No. Valve’s most recent official figure is 132 million monthly active users, announced in 2021. However, Steam’s public concurrency records — an all-time peak above 42 million simultaneous users in early 2026 — independently suggest the audience has grown substantially since then.
Does this change anything for players in the UAE?
Not directly. Steam’s store and library work the same in the UAE as elsewhere, subject to regional availability and ratings. The practical significance is that publishers increasingly treat PC as a day-one platform, meaning more major releases arrive on Steam alongside consoles.
