Steam Hits 40M Concurrent Users Playing Monster Hunter Wilds

Steam, the premier digital game distributor for PC gamers, has shattered its own concurrent user record by reaching over 40 million players for the very first time. This milestone was achieved over the weekend, which coincided perfectly with the launch of Monster Hunter Wilds on Friday, February 28. The platform logged an impressive 40,270,997 simultaneous players, surpassing the previous record of 39.9 million set in February 2025.

According to SteamDB, Steam's concurrent user records, which many view as a barometer of Valve's digital platform success, have been consistently broken nearly every month since May 2024. The peak has risen dramatically from 35.5 million to 40.2 million users within just over six months.

While this figure includes idle players—those who have Steam open but may not be actively using it—the number of users engaged in gameplay has also reached a new high, increasing from 12.5 million to 12.8 million.

Steam experienced significant player peak surges throughout 2024, breaking records in March and July. The latest peak is largely attributed to the release of Monster Hunter Wilds, which saw a 24-hour peak of 1.38 million concurrent users. Meanwhile, other titles like Counter-Strike 2, PUBG, Dota 2, and Marvel Rivals also achieved notable 24-hour peaks of 1.7 million, 819,541, 657,780, and 268,283 users, respectively.

Despite its popularity, Monster Hunter Wilds has received a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, prompting Capcom to release official guidance on PC performance issues. Capcom has also teased early details for Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 1, which will introduce an endgame social hub for players.

To assist with your Monster Hunter Wilds journey, consider exploring what the game doesn’t explicitly explain, and check out a comprehensive guide to all 14 weapon types available. We’re also working on a detailed Monster Hunter Wilds walkthrough, a multiplayer guide to help you play with friends, and instructions on transferring your character from the open beta.

IGN’s review of Monster Hunter Wilds awarded it an 8/10, stating: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”