Content
Stay up to date on the latest happenings in digital marketing
What are the top PC games right now?
Globally, almost a billion gamers boot up an actual PC to play a game on a machine with a screen, a keyboard, and a mouse. They are the hard core of the perhaps 3.6 billion players across mobile, console, and PC, but they also play on their phones, and they probably have consoles too.
PC gaming remains huge, and it’s actually growing faster right now than mobile gaming, which is already about as universal as gaming gets. Top categories include Shooter, Action, RPGs, and Battle Royale, but there are also Strategy, Simulation, and Adventure games.
And yeah, just like mobile, PC gaming has its own Casual games genre too.
But what are the top PC games? We’re going to answer that question today from 5 different angles:
- Top PC games by concurrent players
- Top PC games by monthly active users
- Top PC games by revenue
- Top PC games by store rankings
- Top PC games by user ratings
Ultimately, the best PC game for you is the game you love to play. But these different perspectives will give you a different view of the overall PC gaming ecosystem, and maybe suggest some alternatives. And, if you’re a games publisher that’s looking for new niches and games to make, perhaps the contrasts will suggest some options or ideas.
And by the way:
If you make games, we help you measure your success. Singular offers PC and Console attribution and analytics … plus cross-device attribution, which is getting more and more important, and web attribution. And if you’re expanding into CTV ads, we’ve got you covered there too. Add it all up, and Singular gives your growth engineers a big red Easy button. Which is kinda fun … think of it as our game for you.
Top PC games by peak concurrent players
Looking at top PC games by peak concurrent players is a pretty unique lens on the games industry.
This isn’t just about how many people own or occasionally play a game, but how many are actively engaged at the same time. And, let’s be honest, it’s usually about games that have managed to capture a massive chunk of gamer interest, usually right at launch time.
It’s a cool if not totally enduring signal highlighting where players are spending their time, and it illuminates both enduring blockbusters and surprising breakout hits.
We’re gonna use Steam for our concurrent players rankings. If we go by any random point in time, the rankings are seemingly random. But since they’re based on who might be online on a given day or time period, they actually reveal which are the top PC games for people in different time zones as people get out of school or off work and start playing.
For instance, right now, that list is:
- Counter-Strike 2
- Dota2
- PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Borderlands 4
- Path of Exile 2
- Rust
- Bongo Cat
- Grand Theft Auto V Legacy
- Delta Force
But that will change quickly based on when you check.
A better option: top concurrent players. This is usually achieved by big games with big release budgets, or viral hits.
For 2025, here’s what we have for top PC games by concurrent player count:
- Black Myth: Wukong
1.4 million concurrent players - Monster Hunter Wilds
1,307,967 concurrent players - Marvel Rivals
644,269 concurrent players - Hollow Knight: Silksong
535,000 concurrent players - Borderlands 4
207,479 concurrent players
Marvel continues to be able to drive success, thanks to its super-strong IP, while Black Myth: Wukong shows China’s size and weight in the PC gaming space. And long-awaited indie games like Hollow Knight: Silksong can still hit the top charts.
Top PC games by monthly active users
In a lot of ways MAU is a better metric to find the top PC games than peak concurrent users.
Ranking games by monthly active users shifts the lens from momentary spikes to sustained engagement. These are games that keep players coming back week after week, building loyal communities and reliable revenue streams.
This view often highlights live-service titles, competitive ecosystems, and social experiences that focus on player retention rather than just hype. It’s valuable for understanding long-term staying power and gauging which titles are cultural fixtures rather than fleeting trends.
There’s good data on this thanks to Newzoo, and it’s as recent as August 2025:
- Counterstrike (2 and GO)
- Minecraft
- ROBLOX
- Battlefield 6
- Fortnite
- PEAK (Aggro Crab)
- League of Legends
- The Sims 4
- Dota 2
- Valorant
- Battlefield 2042
- PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
- Call of Duty (all the versions: MW2, MW3, WZ, BO6)
- Overwatch (1 & 2)
- HELLDIVERS 2
Evergreen games dominate long-term play: we see Counter-Strike, Minecraft, and Roblox still at the top. They have massive gamer communities that have been playing for years if not decades.
We also see Fortnite, PUBG, Valorant, Call of Duty, and Overwatch, showing that competitive multiplayer games with regular content updates create super-sticky long-term engagement.
Top PC games by revenue
Playing is 1 thing.
Paying is another.
So even though it can be biased to games that attract the kinds of gamers who just buy their way to the top, it’s relevant to a top PC games conversation.
Here we see gaming’s financial heavyweights. Revenue rankings not only show where the money is flowing but which business models are thriving. And, they show which franchises dominate financially even if they don’t always top the charts for players online.
Newzoo’s a good source for this data too:
- Fortnite
- EA Sports Madden NFL 26
- Counter-Strike (2 and GO)
- HELLDIVERS 2
- Call of Duty (all the versions: MW2, MW3, WZ, BO6)
- Mafia: The Old Country
- Ready or Not
- World of Warcraft
- ROBLOX
- Minecraft
- EA Sports FC 25
- League of Legends
- Valorant
- Marvel Rivals
- Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
As we can see, free-to-play monetization is king, even in PC gaming. Fortnite leading revenue despite being free shows the power of cosmetics, battle passes, and microtransactions. And the fact that F2P games like Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, League of Legends, and Valorant rank shows it’s not just Fortnite.
Sports games continue to be cash cows, and the new NFL season won’t hurt here.
And guess what: premium single-player games are still a thing. Games like Mafia: The Old Country and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater making the revenue list showcases that narrative-driven games can still make bank.
Top PC games by store rankings
Every filter we’re using to look at top PC games offers a slightly different perspective. Store rankings offer a window into what’s trending at the point of purchase.
Platforms like Steam or Epic list global top sellers and most-played titles, so we can get a quick snapshot of which games are climbing in popularity, either through major launches, discounts, or viral buzz.
This is particularly valuable for spotting momentum shifts and identifying breakout hits early, because they often surge on the charts before showing up in longer-term engagement metrics or revenue data.
Steam and Epic are good ways to get at this kind of data, so we’ll check both.
Rank | Steam | Epic |
1 | Borderlands 4 | Borderlands 4 |
2 | Counter-Strike 2 | Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced |
3 | Dune: Awakening | Cyberpunk 2077 |
4 | Hollow Knight: Silksong | Red Dead Redemption 2 |
5 | HELLDIVERS 2 | EA Sports FC 26 |
6 | No, I’m not a Human | Alan Wake 2 |
7 | Path of Exile 2 | Spider-Man 2 |
8 | Shape of Dreams | Ready or Not |
9 | Dying Light: The Beast | Hogwarts Legacy |
10 | Marvel Rivals | Dead by Daylight |
This is a super-cool if limited window on what’s hot in PC gaming because we can see that while Steam prioritizes new and niche content, Epic focuses a bit more on established premium games.
On Steam we see new games like Borderlands 4, Dune: Awakening, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and we also see experimental indies like No, I’m not a Human and Shape of Dreams. On epic we see AAA blockbusters like GTA V Enhanced, Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Spider-Man 2.
Steam users might be more willing to try something new, but Epic’s history of free weekly games may have trained its audience to expect high-quality established titles … and that might have made them more likely to focus on buying premium games later on.
Top PC games by user ratings
Finally, I wanted to look at top PC games by user ratings because, in a way, that’s the ultimate yardstick, right?
This is how we can bring in the voice of players themselves, highlighting quality and satisfaction rather than just raw numbers. That means we can also surface old well-loved classics and sweet indie favorites. They might never dominate revenue or player counts … but they can still earn some love, some time, and fairly deep loyalty.
Because … aren’t games about fun?
Steam has some pretty good data for this (as does SteamDB) so let’s go by those sources …
- Stardew Valley
- Portal 2
- Terraria
- People Playground
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Portal
- Half-Life: Alyx
- RimWorld
- Euro Truck Simulator 2
- Slay the Spire
So … what are really the best PC games based on all of those listings?
OK, this is a tough one.
What if we combine all those rankings and lenses and pick top PC games from all those different perspectives? 7 games really stand out.
Here’s what we get:
- Counter-Strike 2 (and GO)
- High in concurrent players (millions at peak)
- Top 1–2 in MAU (Newzoo)
- Strong revenue (skins + passes)
- Always near the top of Steam store rankings
- Minecraft
- Top 2 in MAU globally
- Huge revenue across platforms (premium + marketplace)
- Not a concurrency monster on Steam (lots of play outside Steam), but consistently evergreen
- Roblox
- Top 5 in MAU
- Strong revenue (UGC monetization, in-game currency)
- A massive cross-platform community, still a PC powerhouse
- Fortnite
- Top 5 in MAU
- Top revenue leader (despite free-to-play)
- Always high in Epic store rankings
- Huge cultural impact (concerts, collabs)
- Dota 2
- Always high in concurrent players (hundreds of thousands live)
- Top 10 in MAU
- Strong esports ecosystem, sticky community
- League of Legends
- High MAU (top 10)
- Consistently top grossing globally
- Strong competitive scene
- Valorant
- Top 10 in MAU
- Strong revenue performance
- Competitive shooter, growing esports footprint
So … are these truly the top PC games right now?
Well, sure.
Except if you have a different favorite.
Charts and rankings can show us the industry’s biggest titles. Absolutely. But the more important truth is that your favorite games matter far more — to YOU — than any global leaderboard. Any number of top games like Counter-Strike or Minecraft can dominate on the charts, but the games you keep coming back to are the ones that matter.
At least to you.
So whether it’s a cozy farming sim, a story-driven RPG, or a super-niche ultra-odd indie experiment … go play. Have fun.
Your game might not crack the global top 10, but it defines your memories, your communities, and your sense of fun. Ultimately, any “top PC games” list is just another lens on the industry. Your personal favorites are the ones that actually matter the most.
Need measurement from Singular?
We help you measure your success, wherever you advertise and market your games. That means PC and Console attribution and cross-device attribution and web attribution and much, much more.