valveWhile much of today’s video game buzz is focused on next generation machines like the Xbox One and Playstation 4, PC gaming continues to gain popularity — at least according to the latest stats from Bellevue-based Valve.

There were more than 7 million concurrent users on Steam this afternoon for the first time in its 11-year history:

valve7millionsteam
Steam’s concurrent users hit seven million this afternoon, reaching a peak of 7.1 million.

That’s up 16 percent from this time last year, when Steam reached 6 million concurrent users for the first time.

In October, Steam announced that it had 65 million active accounts, marking a 30 percent growth in the past year. That means today it had more than 10 percent of its user base online at once. The recent increase may have had something to do with Steam’s ongoing autumn sale, which runs from Nov. 27 until Dec. 3.

A growing user base is good news for Valve, especially as it prepares to bring Steam gaming into the living room. Back in September, Valve unveiled a new operating system, plans for console hardware and the Steam Controller.

Hat tip PCGamesN

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