As 2023 comes to a close, popular game distributor Steam has announced which games were the best-selling on their platform for the year. The multi-tiered list provides an insight into which games resonated with the Steam community most with a mixture of new releases and some popular long-running titles.
As published on Steam's official site, the best-selling games of 2023 were split into four categories - Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. The top 12 releases were assigned Platinum status, with positions 13-24 given Gold, 25-50 Silver, and 51-100 Bronze. The exact revenue that each game brought in was not disclosed and the list was not given in order of its success.
The platform's Platinum-listed games topped Steam sales this year and were made up of a combination of some of the most heavily-anticipated titles for this year along with several ongoing live service games that have a consistent flow of active players. The most notable of these was the Game Awards' Game of the Year, Baldur's Gate 3, which was accompanied by the following, in no particular order;
- Starfield
- PUBG Battlegrounds
- Counter-Strike 2
- Lost Ark
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
- DOTA 2
- Destiny 2
- Sons of the Forest
- Hogwarts Legacy
- APEX Legends
The Gold tier was headlined by The Game Awards' Action Game of the Year, Armored Core 6, along with both FIFA 23 and EA Sports FC 24. What may come as a surprise to some is that both long-standing Rockstar titles GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 edged out some of this year's big new titles and got themselves nods in the top 24 games for 2023.
The remainder of the list included a slew of AAA and indie titles alike that won over audiences throughout the year in what has been a stacked 12 months for gaming. Among the rest of the list were the likes of Pinocchio-inspired Lies of P, charming indie Dave the Diver, and Star Wars giant Jedi Survivor.
With 2024 looking to get off to a flying start with a stacked January and February, we could be staring down the barrel of another big year for gamers. It will be interesting to see who will take out the top spots for next year's Steam charts.