With only a few days to the New Year, we’re happy to take a look back at some of the best-selling titles, most-played games, new releases, and more from 2021! We’ve compiled many Best Of lists like we have in prior years, that highlight how fantastic 2021 was for gamers, developers, and all of the games in between. Let’s take a look back at the Best of Steam – 2021 before we discover what 2022 has in store.
The Steam Winter Sale is currently in full swing, with thousands of deals available across the store, as you’ve surely observed. So, if you’re looking for a good deal on some of the finest games of the year, check out some of these lists! We recommend reading the comments at the bottom of this page before diving into the lists, as they explain some of the technical criteria used to construct them.
Top Sellers
The Top Sellers list is exactly what it says it is: a look at the top 100 titles on Steam in terms of revenue in 2021. We look at game sales, in-game transactions, and DLC sales for every app on Steam from January 1st, 2021 to December 15th, 2021 to find the total revenue.
It’s interesting to look back and see which games have been recurring champions, as well as peruse the brand new successes that smashed their way to the top, as this is the sixth year we’ve put together the annual Top Sellers list.
In terms of adding titles to the list, 2021 was a successful year for games that made their debut in both the Platinum and overall categories. This year, six games (New World, Valheim, NARAKA: BLADEPOINT, Apex Legends, Battlefield 2042, and Dead by Daylight) made their first appearances in the Platinum category, accounting for more than a third of the whole list. Many of these debuts are new releases for 2021, but a few older games have made it into the top 100, thanks to the developers’ sustained dedication and persistent community support.
Top New Releases
You may have seen monthly lists listing the Top 20 games published each month throughout 2021 if you follow Steam updates throughout the year. We’ve compiled those lists in one convenient location, but we’ve also compiled a top 25 list of new releases for the full year. The list is compiled by taking a look at the thousands of game releases in 2021 and highlighting the Top 25 based on the income produced in the first two weeks after release.
We looked at which months were most represented in the yearly Top 25 for last year’s New Release list. We thought it would be fun to do it again and compare the results. Similar to last year, the autumn season features a slew of very popular top releases, followed by a brief hiatus during the winter months.
Most Played Games
Unlike other lists that are based on commercial success, the Most Played list features games with the most players as of December 15th, 2021. Every game with more than 30,000 participants for the year has been included, and they’ve been divided into buckets based on the number of players they reached. We ignore player surges induced by free weekends, giveaways, and other unusual events, as we did in prior years.
Top Early Access Graduates
The top-selling games that came out of Early Access in 2021 are represented on the Early Access list. This ranking is based on all income collected by any app that exited Early Access between December 15th, 2020, and December 15th, 2021.
Throughout 2021, Early Access remained a popular development model on Steam, with over 1000 games appearing on the platform. This list, on the other hand, is all about the grads, who have all gone a long way since their debuts. Some of them went quickly through their Early Access goals, while others progressed progressively over years of development. Even though each has its path and story, they are all shining examples of the incredible games that Early Access can make.
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