Steam says the average user only played 4 games in 2023 – what does this actually mean? 

Steam Year In Review 2023 has become a hot topic on social media since it was announced on December 19. Valve’s new statistics feature gives individuals an overview of their gaming habits for 2023, but it has also uncovered some surprising stats about what average Steam users tend to play. 

Although many users have been sharing their personal Steam Year in Review stats on X, the new analytics system also compares individuals’ stats to those of the average Steam user. It gives a Steam Median score for the number of achievements unlocked, number of games played and longest streak (number of days users consecutively played games on Steam). 

This data revealed some surprising facts about users’ gaming habits. Despite the large number of titles available on Steam, the average user only plays 4 games a year. Furthermore, only 9% of the games that the average Steam gamer played this year were released in 2023.   

What is the reason for these surprising stats? Well, Steam’s chart of “Most Played” games reveals that the top ten is dominated by free-to-play multiplayer titles, like Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2. Therefore, it is quite possible that there are many current Steam users who only play one title. This would explain both the low average number of games played, as well as the low percentage of new games played by the typical Steam user. 

Taking a closer look at the stats using SteamDB’s Concurrent Steam Users chart reveals that, although gamers are playing new releases like THE FINALS and Baldur’s Gate 3, most of the top-ranking games were released before 2023.  

Looking at Steam’s Weekly Top Sellers reveals that most of the best-selling games from the past week were released before 2023. The stats regarding the release dates of games played by the average Steam user show that 38% were released over 7 years ago, 52% were released between 1 to 7 years ago, and only 9% were released in 2023.  

It seems game developers are also noticing these Steam player trends. In a recent interview with the Like a Dragon series’ creators, Hiroyuki Sakamoto commented that few Steam users play games on the day of release, but that when they do get around to playing, they tend to invest lots of time in the games, regardless of whether they are AAA or indie titles. With a yearly average of 4 games played, it seems that Steam users prefer to take their time to play through their back catalogues.  

Steam Year in Review 2023 can be accessed here. You can also look back on your stats for 2022. 

Written by. Verity Townsend based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-12-20 16:41 JST)