These Are Steam's Top-Selling and Most-Played Games at the Start of the Year

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most-played and best-selling games Steam 2026

By Tyler Shipley

The latest Steam data has revealed the best-selling and most-played games at the start of the new year. The top of the Steam charts features some familiar contenders, such as Counter-Strike 2, but it will be interesting to see how things fluctuate in the months to come.

As the most popular PC digital storefront for video games, Steam has no shortage of options for gamers looking for something to play. Each year, the platform gets thousands of new titles, with 2025 seeing over 19,000 additions. The quality can vary since many are added daily, but the last year has seen some notable releases. For example, blockbusters like Battlefield 6 and ARC Raiders fully launched in the latter part of the year. Additionally, some highly regarded indies also arrived, including Hollow Knight: Silksong and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, among others. Despite many games performing well on the digital storefront, some have racked up numbers that put them above the competition.

Steam Top Sellers List

arc-raiders_key-art
  1. ARC Raiders
  2. Steam Deck
  3. Counter-Strike 2
  4. Marvel Rivals
  5. Baldur's Gate 3
  6. Warframe
  7. Battlefield 6
  8. Clair Obsur; Expedition 33
  9. Dispatch
  10. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

With 2026 just underway, Steam data shows the games that are currently performing best on the platform. Valve periodically updates its best-selling and most-played charts, and the most recent changes reveal a blend of 2025 games and older titles dominating the rankings. Regarding bestsellers, Steam compiles a list of the top 100 selling games, ordering them based on revenue. Based on the most recent information, ARC Raiders stands at the top of the pile, beating out Counter-Strike 2. It is worth noting that Counter-Strike 2 is actually third on the list, as the live chart includes Valve’s handheld Steam Deck, which is in the second spot. Following Valve’s first-person shooter comes Marvel Rivals and Baldur's Gate 3. Rounding out the top 10 are Warframe, Battlefield 6, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Dispatch, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

Steam Most-Played Games List (Daily Players)

  1. Counter-Strike 2
  2. Dota
  3. PUBG: Battlegrounds
  4. Wallpaper Engine
  5. Arc Raiders
  6. Geometry Dash
  7. Battlefield 6
  8. Apex Legends
  9. War Thunder
  10. Marvel Rivals

On the most played side of things, the list looks considerably different. Based on daily players, Counter-Strike 2 unsurprisingly takes first. Its peak concurrent player count for the last 24 hours was 1,515,495, which is over 800,000 more than Dota 2 in second place. Third place is occupied by PUBG: Battlegrounds, another free-to-play game, while fourth is the popular application Wallpaper Engine. Despite ARC Raiders being fifth in daily players, it is still an impressive result since it is the first paid game on the list. Embark Studio’s extraction shooter is followed by Geometry Dash and Battlefield 6. Apex Legends, War Thunder, and Marvel Rivals, three more free-to-play games, round out the top 10.

It is worth mentioning that Steam also provides a list of the most-played games based on current players. Instead of showing daily users, this list is updated every 15 minutes to show the top 100 games on the PC platform. At the time of writing, several games on this chart that did not make it onto the daily player list include Rust, Bongo Cat, Path of Exile 2, and Baldur’s Gate 3. However, things can change rapidly, given that some games are more popular in certain regions.

Read the full article on GameRant  

This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.  

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