Steam’s Best of 2021 lists have been announced, and while they don’t rank the top games in each category, they do tell which titles were the most played, sold the most, and more.
Vilhelm, New World, Halo Infinite, Battlefield 2042, PUBG, Counter-Strike, and Grand Theft Auto V appear in multiple categories on Steam’s Best of 2021 lists, including Top Sellers, New Releases, Most Played, Early Access Grads, 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 lists the top 100 games by gross income and categorizes them into Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze tiers; however, it does not specify how much a game must earn to move up a tier.
The Platinum Top Sellers, in alphabetical order, are as follows;
- Apex Legends
- Battlefield 2042
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Dead by Daylight
- Destiny 2
- DOTA 2
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Naraka: Bladepoint
- New World
- PUBG: Battlegrounds
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
- Vilhelm
The New Releases category is calculated in the same way as the Top Sellers category, but games must have been released in 2021 to qualify.
The Platinum-tier New Releases, in alphabetical order, are as follows;
- Age of Empires IV
- Back 4 Blood
- Battlefield 2042
- Farming Simulator 22
- Forza Horizon 5
- Halo Infinite
- Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
- Naraka: Bladepoint
- New World
- Outriders
- Resident Evil Village
- Vilhelm
The Best Games of 2021
The Most Played category honors the games with the most “peak concurrent players” over the year. The following are the games that reached the highest tier – Over 200,000 Peak Players:
- Apex Legends
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Cyberpunk 2077
- DOTA 2
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Halo Infinite
- New World
- PUBG: Battlegrounds
- Rust
- Vilhelm
The Early Access Grad’s category honors the games that exited Early Access in 2021 with the highest gross income. The Platinum-tier Early Access Grads are as follows, in alphabetical order:
- Breathedge
- Chernobylite
- Draw & Guess
- Endzone: A World Apart
- Hell Let Loose
- GTFO
- Medieval Dynasty
- Skul: The Hero Slayer
- Solasta: Crown of the Magister
- Subnautica: Below Zero
- Accurate Battle Simulator
- Wildermuth
The top-selling VR-exclusive experiences with the highest gross income in 2021 are included in the Best of VR category. The Platinum-tier Best of VR games are as follows, in alphabetical order:
- Arizona Sunshine
- Beat Saber
- Blade & Sorcery
- Boatworks
- Hal-Life: Alyx
- Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, & Hand Grenades
- Into the Radius
- Pavlov
- Superhot VR
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
- The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
- VR Kanojo
Finally, the Controller Friendly category recognizes the games with the most active controller players daily in 2021. The Platinum-tier Controller Friendly games are as follows, in alphabetical order:
- Apex Legends
- Cyberpunk 2077
- football 2022
- FIFA 21
- FIFA 22
- Forza Horizon 5
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Guilty Gear -Strive-
- Halo Infinite
- Monster Hunter: World
- Tales of Arise
- The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
also read:
Nintendo Switch shortage will most likely remain the same until the end of mid-2022
