We’ve told you what we think are the best PC games of 2020 (well, as many as we can), but what about cold, hard stuff? For people who want stats and money, Valve has unveiled the best-selling games on Steam of 2020. They’re a little vague about it, though.
Valve avoids grading or even final ranking for anything. They sort games into ‘bands’, largely failing to explain the metrics that define them, and they randomly shuffle the order in which they are presented. So you can broadly see which ones are successful, but not which ones are the most successful, nor how they relate to others in their band. And they miss the end of December (and thus Steam Winter Sale), obvs.
For your convenience, I have re-sorted all Valve lists in alphabetical order. I also only recorded the top bands. The full lists of games (many, many more games) are now on Steam (switch between categories using the tabs), along with a few extra words from Valve.
Top sellers in sales in 2020
This covers the cost of the game itself plus DLC and in-game purchases. The list is largely what you’d expect, although it’s impressive that Cyberpunk 2077 crept in despite launching in December. And it’s neat that Among Us made the earnings list despite costing just £ 4. A lot of people mistrusted their friends 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 says this list will be shown based on earnings in the two weeks after release. Again, a lot of things you’d expect, although I’m surprised 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, but apparently a lot of people preferred to buy them outright.
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
Have has has
The outer worlds
Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem
Top VR games
Another category defined by game earnings, DLC and in-game purchases. These are mostly familiar games I would expect to be on the list, but I had never 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 the game, allowing you to interact with her more directly,” say the developers. “Imagine all the possibilities!” Never be curious, Alice.
Arizona Sunshine
Defeat Saber
Blade & Sorcery
Boneworks
Half-life: Alyx
Hot dogs, horseshoes and 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 2020 revenue from in-game, DLC, and in-game purchases. Some good and highly anticipated launches this year.
Conqueror’s sword
Deep Rock Galactic
Golf with your friends
DJMax Respect V.
Factorio
Hades
Witch
Risk of rain 2
Skater XL
Plow
Flashlight III
Wolcen: Lords Of Mayhem
Most played
This not based on sales. The most played category goes to the highest concurrent players in 2020, with the highest tier being games breaking 200,000. It’s mostly the big multiplayer games you’d expect, plus Cyberpunk obvs, and then the surprising 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
Terrariums
Top controller games based on the highest daily players using a controller
Also nothing to do with sales. Even as a Destiny player whose raid group includes someone on the controller, I’m surprised to see it here. That’s probably because the MMOFPS has enough players to force it to the top tier with brute force, 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
