Grand Theft Auto 5 sets new concurrent user record on Steam
In what will no doubt come as the least surprising news of the week, if not the entire month, Grand Theft Auto 5 has set a new peak concurrent user record for a non-Valve game on Steam.
GTA 5 peaked at a little over 300,000 concurrent users yesterday, according to GamesIndustry International, and while that's a far cry from Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which respectively peaked at 780,000 and 529,000 users today, it's still leagues ahead of the fourth-place finisher, Football Manager 2015, which posted a peak concurrent user count of 56,000 users.
The number also handily dispatches the previous record, set by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim back in 2011. That's not bad for a game that's already been out for well over a year and earned more than $1 billion in revenue on other platforms.
Of course, those other platforms won't let you slap an Oculus Rift on your face and take a VR ride through Los Santos, nor will they gain you admittance to the coolest crew in town: The Notorious PCG! Hey, if you're not in—you're out.
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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.