Steam / Practical guide
Most Played Steam Games 2026: The Top 25 by Live Player Count
A dated snapshot of Valve's own charts: the 25 games with the most players online on 18 October 2026, their peaks, and which ones you have to buy.
ALVIRAN Editorial · Reviewed 2026-10-18
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Most played Steam games right now: the top 25
This is Valve's Most Played chart sorted by current players, read on 18 October 2026 at 10:33 UTC (a Sunday). The same numbers come from Valve's GetGamesByConcurrentPlayers API. "Peak today" is Valve's own column on that chart.
| Rank | Game | Current players | Peak today | Price model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Counter-Strike 2 | 924,199 | 1,360,532 | Free-to-play |
| 2 | Dota 2 | 796,338 | 969,895 | Free-to-play |
| 3 | PUBG: Battlegrounds | 486,857 | 809,673 | Free-to-play |
| 4 | AION 2 | 253,921 | 301,962 | Free-to-play |
| 5 | WARDOGS | 179,889 | 304,002 | Paid, Early Access |
| 6 | Bongo Cat | 141,980 | 155,214 | Free-to-play |
| 7 | Apex Legends | 125,455 | 231,338 | Free-to-play |
| 8 | Deadlock | 124,487 | 255,488 | Invite-only playtest |
| 9 | Rust | 102,130 | 132,897 | Paid |
| 10 | Wallpaper Engine | 98,839 | 122,675 | Paid (software) |
| 11 | FiveM | 98,395 | 195,742 | Free (per Valve's chart) |
| 12 | Delta Force | 86,608 | 126,305 | Free-to-play |
| 13 | Team Fortress 2 | 85,698 | 100,280 | Free-to-play |
| 14 | ARC Raiders | 85,023 | 156,983 | Paid |
| 15 | Valheim | 82,025 | 146,497 | Paid |
| 16 | Warframe | 79,499 | 103,071 | Free-to-play |
| 17 | Call of Duty | 77,794 | 108,551 | Mixed (Warzone free, MW4 and BO7 paid) |
| 18 | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered | 72,669 | 88,082 | Paid |
| 19 | Enshrouded | 70,362 | 102,491 | Paid |
| 20 | Stardew Valley | 67,103 | 103,664 | Paid |
| 21 | TBH: Task Bar Hero | 67,071 | 68,667 | Free-to-play |
| 22 | Slay the Spire 2 | 67,033 | 104,065 | Paid, Early Access |
| 23 | War Thunder | 64,939 | 87,424 | Free-to-play |
| 24 | Grand Theft Auto V Legacy | 63,642 | 72,903 | Paid |
| 25 | Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced | 56,750 | 76,145 | Paid |
The top 25 had 4,358,706 players online between them at that moment. The free games accounted for 3,210,960 of them, or 73.7 %, and Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2 and PUBG alone for 2,207,394.
Valve's daily Most Played ranking (17 October 2026)
Valve also publishes a daily ranking through GetMostPlayedGames. The last full day in it is 17 October 2026. It lists each game's rank, its rank a week earlier and its peak for the day. The order is Valve's own and does not follow the peak column exactly: Wallpaper Engine ranks above Deadlock with less than half its peak.
| Rank | Game | Rank a week earlier | Daily peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Counter-Strike 2 | 1 | 1,360,532 |
| 2 | Dota 2 | 2 | 969,895 |
| 3 | PUBG: Battlegrounds | 3 | 809,673 |
| 4 | Wallpaper Engine | 4 | 122,675 |
| 5 | Deadlock | 5 | 255,488 |
| 6 | Apex Legends | 7 | 231,338 |
| 7 | WARDOGS | 8 | 304,002 |
| 8 | AION 2 | 6 | 301,962 |
| 9 | Geometry Dash | 10 | 75,166 |
| 10 | Grand Theft Auto V Legacy | 11 | 72,903 |
| 11 | Slay the Spire 2 | 14 | 104,065 |
| 12 | ARC Raiders | 9 | 156,983 |
| 13 | FiveM | 15 | 195,742 |
| 14 | Overwatch | 12 | 75,787 |
| 15 | Rainbow Six Siege | 16 | 91,213 |
| 16 | War Thunder | 17 | 87,424 |
| 17 | Call of Duty | 53 | 108,551 |
| 18 | Valheim | 13 | 146,497 |
| 19 | Warframe | 31 | 103,071 |
| 20 | Battlefield 6 | 37 | 71,541 |
The biggest jumps in a week were Call of Duty (53rd to 17th), Warframe (31st to 19th) and Battlefield 6 (37th to 20th). Rainbow Six Siege sits 15th; our guide on whether Siege is free-to-play explains what that means for new accounts.
Free-to-play vs paid games in the Steam top 25
Free-to-play: Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, PUBG: Battlegrounds, AION 2, Bongo Cat, Apex Legends, FiveM, Delta Force, Team Fortress 2, Warframe, TBH: Task Bar Hero and War Thunder. FiveM has no public Steam store page; Valve's chart lists it as free.
Paid: WARDOGS, Rust, Wallpaper Engine, ARC Raiders, Valheim, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, Enshrouded, Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire 2, Grand Theft Auto V Legacy and Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced. WARDOGS and Slay the Spire 2 are still Early Access. Further down the top 100 you find more paid games: Cyberpunk 2077 (32nd), Baldur's Gate 3 (46th) and Elden Ring (61st).
Both versions of GTA V make the top 25. Our Legacy vs Enhanced guide explains the difference for GTA Online.
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Stardew Valley is the oldest paid game in the top 25, and you can filter libraries by its name.
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Short notes on the games in the top 25
Counter-Strike 2
Free-to-play and 924,199 players at the snapshot. Its store page lists CS Ratings with the updated Premier mode and global and regional leaderboards.
AION 2
NC's MMORPG launched on Steam on 5 October 2026 and was already 4th by current players 13 days later.
WARDOGS
A 100-player, three-team warfare shooter in Early Access since 10 September 2026, with the third-highest peak today (304,002).
Deadlock
Valve's own game, still described as early development with access limited to friend invites from playtesters.
Bongo Cat and TBH
Two idle games that sit on your taskbar while you do other things. Their peak and current numbers are almost the same, which fits apps left running all day.
Valheim
Steam now lists 9 September 2026 as its release date and no longer tags it Early Access. 146,497 at its peak today.
Enshrouded
Steam lists 15 October 2026 as its release date and no Early Access tag, three days before this snapshot.
Call of Duty
One Steam entry that supports Modern Warfare 4, Black Ops 7 and Call of Duty: Warzone, which Steam lists as free-to-play. The chart shows no single price for it.
The Witcher 3
Now listed on Steam as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, 18th with 72,669 players.
Grand Theft Auto V
Legacy (24th) and Enhanced (25th) are separate Steam entries with 120,392 players between them at the snapshot.
All-time peaks: what Valve publishes and what it doesn't
Valve's charts show current players, peak today and the daily ranking, but no all-time peak per game. All-time records you see quoted elsewhere come from third-party trackers that sample Valve's API. We found no Valve page that confirms them, so this list does not include them.
Valve does publish the platform total. On its Steam stats page, read at about 10:45 UTC on 18 October 2026, Steam had 35,853,284 users online and a peak of 41,889,474 in the most recent 48 hours.
Snapshot rules for this page: live numbers are from 10:33 UTC on 18 October 2026, the daily ranking is for 17 October 2026, and the Steam total is from about 10:45 UTC.
How to check Steam player counts yourself
Open the chart
Go to store.steampowered.com/charts/mostplayed. It shows the top 100 with current players and peak today.
Ask the API for one game
GetNumberOfCurrentPlayers returns the live count for one app ID. For Counter-Strike 2 the app ID is 730; it returned 932,349 when we checked at 10:52 UTC.
Use the daily list for trends
GetMostPlayedGames adds last week's rank, so you can see which games are climbing.
Note the time
Write down the UTC time with every number. At our snapshot, Deadlock's peak today was more than twice its current count.
Owning the paid games from the list
Free-to-play games can be installed on any Steam account at no cost, so they do not make a library worth more. What a library adds is the paid games: Rust, Valheim, Stardew Valley, The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur's Gate 3 or Elden Ring. Counter-Strike 2 is the exception worth checking, because Prime status is tied to the account; our CS2 Prime and Premier guide covers it.
- Check the game list on the listing, not just the game count.
- Ignore free-to-play titles when you compare libraries; anyone can add them for free.
- If you want an Early Access game such as Slay the Spire 2, search for it by name.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most played game on Steam right now?
Counter-Strike 2. At 10:33 UTC on 18 October 2026 it had 924,199 players online and a peak of 1,360,532 that day on Valve's chart.
How many people are on Steam right now?
Valve's stats page showed 35,853,284 users online at about 10:45 UTC on 18 October 2026, with a 48-hour peak of 41,889,474.
Which paid game has the most players on Steam?
In the 18 October 2026 snapshot it was WARDOGS (179,889 players, Early Access), followed by Rust (102,130) and Wallpaper Engine (98,839), which is software rather than a game.
Are most top Steam games free-to-play?
Most players are in free games. 12 of the top 25 are free-to-play, and they held 73.7 % of the top 25's players at the snapshot.
Where does Steam show player counts?
On store.steampowered.com/charts/mostplayed, and through Valve's public Web API (ISteamChartsService and ISteamUserStats).
Does Valve publish all-time peak player counts?
Not per game. The charts show current players, peak today and a daily ranking. All-time peaks quoted online come from third-party trackers.
Is Deadlock free on Steam?
Deadlock has no price on Steam. Valve's store page says it is in early development and access is limited to friend invites from playtesters.
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Sources and editorial scope
Reviewed 18 October 2026. Live top 25: Valve's Steam Most Played chart and ISteamChartsService/GetGamesByConcurrentPlayers (last update 18 Oct 2026, 10:33:41 UTC). Daily ranking: ISteamChartsService/GetMostPlayedGames (rollup date 17 Oct 2026). Single-game count: ISteamUserStats/GetNumberOfCurrentPlayers. Steam total: Steam stats page. Game names, free-to-play status, release dates and descriptions: Steam store pages and the store appdetails API for each app ID. No third-party trackers were used for any number. The ownership checklist is ALVIRAN editorial advice.
The Steam Subscriber Agreement does not allow you to sell your Steam account or otherwise transfer it. Nothing in this guide changes that or removes the risk of account action.