Valve's PC games platform Steam was played by more than 20m users at once over the weekend.
That's according to SteamDB on Twitter (below), which reports that on Sunday, March 15th, Steam was being used by 20.3m people at once. 6.2m of these users were in-game. This is likely due to people staying at home due to the self-isolation policies being pursued by governments around the world to try and contain the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
#Steam has just reached a new concurrent online user record of 20 million, with 6.2 million currently in-game, likely due to many people staying at home due to the #coronavirus.https://t.co/bzLMfMOJvD#COVID19
— Steam Database (@SteamDB) March 15, 2020
This is a higher number than the 18.8m concurrent players that was recorded in February 2020, itself an increase on the 18.5m simultaneous users that Steam attracted at the start of January.
Steam isn't the only online platform to see record engagement as people stay at home and are obviously looking for something to do.
The coronavirus pandemic has led to the cancellation of a number of events in the games industry, such as GDC, Eve Fanfest and even E3, while the BAFTA Game Awards has become an online-only show.
