Steam Hits Record 40 Million Players with Monster Hunter Wilds Launch

Steam, the leading digital game distributor for PC gamers, has shattered its own concurrent user record, reaching an unprecedented peak of over 40 million players. This milestone was achieved over a weekend that coincided with the launch of Monster Hunter Wilds on February 28, 2025, when Steam registered 40,270,997 simultaneous users, surpassing the previous record of 39.9 million set just a month earlier.

According to SteamDB, Steam's concurrent user record, often seen as a benchmark of Valve's platform success, has been broken nearly every month since May 2024. The concurrent peak has surged from 35.5 million to 40.2 million in just over six months. Notably, this figure includes idle players, but the number of users actively engaged in games has also set a new record, increasing from 12.5 million to 12.8 million.

Steam experienced significant surges in player peaks throughout 2024, with records broken in March and July. The recent peak is attributed to the release of Monster Hunter Wilds, which alone saw a 24-hour concurrent peak of 1.38 million players. Meanwhile, other popular titles like Counter-Strike 2, PUBG, Dota 2, and Marvel Rivals also recorded impressive 24-hour user peaks of 1.7 million, 819,541, 657,780, and 268,283, respectively.

Despite its popularity, Monster Hunter Wilds has received a 'mixed' user review rating on Steam, prompting Capcom to release official guidance addressing PC performance issues. Additionally, Capcom has shared early details about Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 1, which will introduce an endgame social hub.

For players embarking on their Monster Hunter Wilds journey, there are resources available to enhance your experience. These include tips on what the game doesn't explicitly mention, a comprehensive guide to all 14 weapon types, an ongoing walkthrough, a multiplayer guide to help you play with friends, and instructions on transferring your character from the open beta.

IGN's review of Monster Hunter Wilds awarded it an 8/10, stating, "Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge."