Valve has released the Best of Steam 2021 list, which features all of the games that topped Steam charts in 2021 by a number of metrics. There are some obvious big hitters on the list, but also some surprises that you might not have expected to pop up.
What's on the Best of Steam 2021 list?
The list collects all of the most popular games on Steam across a number of categories. These include best-selling games, top-selling new releases, and high VR rollers, as well as Early Access successes and games with good controller support. Each category is measured using a different metric; top-selling games, for example, are measured by gross revenue, while controller-friendly games are measured using daily active players with controller as their main input method.
The winners are pretty much what you'd expect, although there are some fun outliers. PUBG: Battlegrounds, Grand Theft Auto V, and Valheim were among the platform's top sellers, while Farming Simulator 22 and Back 4 Blood took away top new release awards. Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the platform's most-played titles, despite (or perhaps because of) the controversy surrounding its launch. Early Access winners include Hell Let Loose and Skul: The Hero Slayer. Hilariously enough, one of the winners in the controller-friendly category was eFootball 2022, which is notoriously the worst game on Steam by user reviews.
It's well worth taking a look at the full list of Best of Steam 2021 winners if you want to know a little more about what was successful on Valve's platform this year. There's also a fun blog post where Valve breaks down some of the data and discusses what it means, which is great for stats nerds (like us). Here's hoping Steam has an equally great 2022, although hopefully without the disastrous eFootball 2022 launch this time.
Have you played any of 2021's Best of Steam winners? Let us know in the comments below!
