Steam reveals the best-selling and most-played games of 2021
Steam has released its list of the best games of 2021, and while it doesn’t rank the top games in each category, it does reveal which games are the most played, best selling, and more.
Steam’s Best of 2021 the list includes Bestseller, New release, Most Played, Early Access Grads, The best of VR, and Controller friendly; and games like Valheim, New World, Halo Infinite, Battlefield 2042, PUBG, Counter-Strike and Grand Theft Auto V appear in multiple categories.
The Top Sellers category features the top 100 games as measured by gross revenue and ranks each game in Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze; but it doesn’t detail how much a game must earn to qualify for a new level. The Platinum top sellers, in alphabetical order, are as follows;
- Apex Legends
- Battlefield 2042
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Dead by daylight
- Fate 2
- DOTA 2
- Grand Theft Auto DRAW
- Naraka: Bladepoint
- New world
- PUBG: Battlegrounds
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
- Valheim
The New Releases category is measured in the same way as the Best Sellers category, but games are only eligible if they’re released in 2021. Sorry, GTA V, but this is an award you can’t gain! The new Platinum releases, in alphabetical order, are as follows;
- Age of Empires IV
- Back to 4 health
- Battlefield 2042
- Farming Simulator 22
- Forza Horizon 5
- Halo Infinite
- Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
- Naraka: Bladepoint
- New world
- Outriders
- Resident Evil Village
- Valheim
The Most Played category honors games that achieved the most “top peak concurrent players” throughout the year. Games that reach the top tier – 200,000+ Peak Players – are as follows;
- Apex Legends
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Cyberpunk 2077
- DOTA 2
- Grand Theft Auto DRAW
- Halo Infinite
- New world
- PUBG: Battlegrounds
- Rust
- Valheim
The Early Access Grads category is all about rewards for games that have left Early Access and earned the highest totals in 2021. The Platinum Early Access Grads tiers, in alphabetical order, are as follows;
- Expiratory
- Chernobylite
- Draw & Guess
- Endzone: A World Apart
- Hell to loose
- GTFO
- Medieval Dynasty
- Skul: Hero Killer
- Solasta: Crown of the Magister
- Subnautica: Under Zero
- Totally accurate battle simulator
- Wildermyth
The Best of VR category brings together the best-selling VR exclusive experiences that earned the highest grosses in 2021. The best Platinum-tier VR games, in alphabetical order, are as follows;
- Arizona Sunshine
- Defeat Sabre
- Blade & Sorcery
- Boneworks
- Hal-Life: Alyx
- Sausage, Horseshoe & Grenades
- Into the radius
- Pavlov
- Superhot VR
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
- The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
- VR Kanojo
Finally, the Driver-Friendly category honors the games with the most daily player activity in 2021. Platinum Controller-Friendly games, in alphabetical order , as follows;
- Apex Legends
- Cyberpunk 2077
- eFootball 2022
- FIFA 21
- FIFA 22
- Forza Horizon 5
- Grand Theft Auto DRAW
- Guilty Gear -Strive-
- Halo Infinite
- Monster Hunter: World
- Tales of Arise
- Isaac’s Binding: Reincarnation