Video games are popular, there is no two ways about it. We love games and we play them relatively frequently, so it comes as no surprise to hear that they are getting even more popular.
Some statistics can help in this regard, even though it isn’t hard to imagine that more people are getting into video games.
Valve is a company that made some great video games, but also one that created Steam, a platform for gamers, where they can purchase games and connect with others, playing online and having fun.
The 2021 survey showed that more people than ever have been playing video games. The numbers have grown and here is how much.
21% More Play Time than in 2020
This is a rather huge increase in play time. 2020 was a great year to be gaming, mostly because it was the year of the global pandemic, when everyone was indoors. It was a year where people had to be indoors, and it comes as no surprise that they were gaming.
However, 2021 had looser restrictions and some people were allowed to travel and move as they like. So, 2021 having more gamers than 2020 is a big surprise, particularly if you look at the increase. 21% is a lot more people than you would expect, and that is just on Steam alone.
27% More Spending Than 2020
This one is also surprising, mostly because more play time doesn’t mean more spending, or at least, it shouldn’t. More play time means that people are gaming, and there are tons of free to play games on Steam.
However, the fact that more people were purchasing games, shows that most of them were interested in either new games, or have found a love for the older ones, and have gone on a purchase spree. It is surprising for the same reasons that the above fact is surprising. 2021 was a better year for travel and outside socialization, so more game time and spending means that people actually enjoyed spending time indoors, playing games.
69M Daily Players
This is a large number of players playing games every single day. You keep wondering, how do the servers handle it? But then, not all of the games are online games, and not all of them use the same voice server.
With a huge number of players on a daily basis, Steam was apparently being very dominant in 2021, doing better than most of their competitors, and there is a reason for it.
Proton – Linux Support
Proton is a compatibility tool which helps run native Windows games in Linux. It is funded and developed by Valve, and is a great solution which brought many Linux users to Steam, meaning that part of those numbers and purchases were from happy Linux users.
Every year, Steam surprises us with something and the end of 2021 told us that 2021 was a better year for gaming than 2020, with overall more gamers and more play time.