Currently, Steam’s best-selling games have one thing in common: They all have a Free2Play model. We explain which games we’re talking about and why free-to-play games are topping the sales charts. Here are the top 10 best-selling Steam games, free and paid…
Free games at the top: Current list of the top 10 best-selling Steam games
What do games like Dota 2, PUBG and the new open-world adventure Once Human have in common? Yes, they’re all Free2Play games. Indeed, free-to-play games are regularly among the best sellers on Valve’s platform, and there are a particularly large number of them right now.
There are a lot of free games in the Top 10 right now. Here are the top 10 best-selling games on the Steam store (current list):
- The First Descendant (Free)
- Counter-Strike 2 (Free)
- Once Human (Free)
- PUBG (Free)
- Elden Ring ($39.99)
- Dota 2 (Free)
- Chained Together ($2.99)
- War Thunder (Free)
- Elden Ring: Shadow of Erdtree ($25.99)
Of course, Steam Deck is an exception as it is a hardware product. However, if we include EA Sports FC 24 ($69.99) in 11th place, the ratio of free to paid games doesn’t change much. Six of the top 10 games are still free-to-play.
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Valve calculates the top sellers based on total revenue and does so in real time. Revenue is calculated not only from direct sales of the game, but also from DLC sold and in-game transactions.
Thanks to real-time tracking, new releases can immediately top the sales charts. This means that many users spend significant amounts of money on games through micro-transactions. However, gamers often criticize in-game purchases, as such transactions are used for aggressive monetization strategies and in some cases encourage spending money to compete in the game (Pay2Win).
In the current Top 10 list, The First Descendant in particular is criticized in Steam reviews for its strong monetization strategies. The game currently has 53 percent positive reviews. PUBG also has only balanced user reviews due to the many cheaters. Once Human is also not doing very well in reviews.
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