We’ve told you what we think are the best PC games of 2020 (well, as many as we could fit), but what about cold, hard business? For folks who want metrics and money, Valve have revealed the best-selling games on Steam of 2020. They’re a bit vague about it, mind.
Valve avoid giving numbers or even a definitive ranking for anything. They sort games into ‘bands’, largely not explaining the metrics defining these, and randomly shuffle the order in which they’re presented. So you can broadly see which are successful, but not which is the most successful nor how any compare to others within their band. And they are missing the end of December (and therefore Steam Winter Sale), obvs.
For your convenience, I’ve re-sorted all Valve’s lists into alphabetical order. I’ve also only included the top bands. The full lists of games (many, many more games) should be up on the Steam blog now.
Top Sellers by 2020 Revenue
This covers the cost of the game itself plus DLC and in-game purchases. The list’s mostly what you’d expect, though it is impressive that Cyberpunk 2077 crept in despite launching in December. And it’s neat that Among Us made the revenue list despite only costing £4. Whole lot of folks suspicious of their pals this year.
Among Us
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Cyberpunk 2077
Destiny 2
Doom Eternal
Dota 2
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
Grand Theft Auto V
Monster Hunter: World
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds
Red Dead Redemption 2
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
New Releases
Valve say this list goes by revenue in the two weeks following release. Again, lots of things you’d expect, though I am surprised that several former Epic Games Store exclusives had such big Steam debuts despite being ‘out’ for months. And several of these are covered by Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, yet evidently many folks preferred to outright buy them.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Borderlands 3
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection
Cyberpunk 2077
Crusader Kings III
Death Stranding
Doom Eternal
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
Fifa 21
Football Manager 2021
Grounded
Half-Life: Alyx
Horizon Zero Dawn
Mafia: Definitive Edition
Marvel’s Avengers
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
Persona 4 Golden
Resident Evil 3
Sea Of Thieves
Star Wars: Squadrons
Temtem
The Outer Worlds
Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem
Top VR games
Another category defined by revenue from the game, DLC, and in-game purchases. These are mostly familiar games I’d expect to see on the list, but I hadn’t heard of VR Kanojo so I looked it up and oh jesus it’s about hanging out with a virtual schoolgirl.
“Better yet, VR controllers simulate your hands in-game, letting you interact with her more directly,” the devs say. “Just imagine all the possibilities!” Never be curious, Alice.
Arizona Sunshine
Beat Saber
Blade & Sorcery
Boneworks
Half-Life: Alyx
Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades
Pavlov VR
Pistol Whip
Superhot VR
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
VR Kanojo
Top Sellers graduating from early access in 2020
Defined by revenue in 2020 from the game, DLC, and in-game purchases. Some good and long-awaited launches this year.
Conqueror’s Blade
Deep Rock Galactic
Golf With Your Friends
DJMax Respect V
Factorio
Hades
Noita
Risk Of Rain 2
Skater XL
Squad
Torchlight III
Wolcen: Lords Of Mayhem
Most Played
Not based on sales, this. The Most Played category goes by peak concurrent players in 2020, with the top tier being games which broke 200,000. It’s largely the big multiplayer games you’d expect, plus Cyberpunk obvs, then the surprise appearance of Life Is Strange 2. Nice one, LIS!
Among Us
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Cyberpunk 2077
Destiny 2
Dota 2
Grand Theft Auto V
Life Is Strange 2
Monster Hunter: World
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds
Terraria
Top Controller Games Based on Highest Daily Players Using a Controller
Also nothing to do with sales. Even as a Destiny player whose raid group includes someone on controller, I am surprised to see it here. That’s probably because the MMOFPS has enough players to brute-force it into the top tier but damn.
Cyberpunk 2077
Dark Souls III
Destiny 2
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
Fifa 21
Grand Theft Auto V
Hades
Monster Hunter: World
NBA 2K20
Persona 4 Golden
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
