We have already talked about the most played games on Steam in 2022, unveiled by Valve in its store at the end of 2022 in a compilation which, however, was somewhat messy. Thanks to the latest data collected by analysts, we now know how to define the Top 10 most popular games on Steam in 2022 by player order.
As also taken up by SafeBettingSites, to dominate the ranking is Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Valve’s free-to-play competitive shooter averaged 603,770 players per hour, which won’t surprise fans but could come as a shock to those unfamiliar with PC gaming. The second place is occupied by DOTA 2a MOBA also developed by Valve which saw an average of 466,500 active users every hour during 2022.
In third position follows the MMO Lost Ark with an average of 277,660 users per hour, thanks to its boom in the release period; at the beginning of 2023, however, the number dropped to peaks just above 100,000 daily players. On the contrary, Apex Legends has grown and, in recent weeks, is in third position always exceeding 200,000 contemporary players; if you look at the data for 2022, however, the average is 188,380 players per hour, enough to put EA’s battle royale in fifth place in popularity.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II with 149,400 players per hour ranks sixth in popularity, but is the first in the ranking among paid ones. Its commercial success even surpasses Elden Ring, officially the seventh most popular game on Steam in 2022 with an average of 111,260 players per hour.
To define the lower part of the ranking are GTA 5, eighth with 93,590 players per hour on Steam after nine years from its market launch; Team Fortress 2 in 9th position with an average of 86,680 players per hour; in the end, Rust closes the Top 10 with an average of 79,890 players.
2023, among other things, started with dizzying numbers for Steam thanks to the peak of 10 million players in the game at the same time.