Valve’s Annual “Best Of” List Showcases Top-Performing Games in 2023
Valve has recently unveiled its annual “Best Of” list, which shines a spotlight on the top-performing games on Steam. The criteria for being featured on this esteemed list is based on a combination of gross revenue and player engagement.
The categories highlighted include top sellers, best-selling new releases, most-played games on PC, most-played games on Steam Deck, highest-grossing early access games, most-played using a controller, and best-selling VR titles. Within each category, the top 12 games have earned Platinum status, while the rest have been grouped into descending rankings of Gold, Silver, and Bronze. This list provides a fun snapshot of the games that Steam users have engaged with the most throughout the year. It also serves as a reminder that certain games, such as Destiny 2, have continuously maintained a loyal player base, despite being considered to be on the downtrend or having been around for a long time.
Valve’s complete list can be viewed here, but we’ve compiled the Platinum-ranked games alphabetically in each category below, as Valve does not provide a ranked order for these games.
Top Sellers (highest gross revenue earned in 2023)
- Apex Legends
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Call of Duty (MW III, Warzone, MW II)
- Counter-Strike 2
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Destiny 2
- Dota 2
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Lost Ark
- PUBG: Battlegrounds
- Sons of the Forest
- Starfield
New Releases (most revenue earned during first two weeks of launch)
- Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Cities: Skylines II
- EA Sports FC 24
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Payday 3
- Remnant II
- Resident Evil 4 (remake)
- Sons of the Forest
- Starfield
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
- Street Fighter 6
Most Played (number of peak concurrent player counts over 40,000)
- Apex Legends
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Counter-Strike 2
- Destiny 2
- Dota 2
- Goose Goose Duck
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Lost Ark
- PUBG: Battlegrounds
- Sons of the Forest
- Starfield
Early Access (highest gross revenue earned before and after launching in 1.0 this year)
- Against the Storm
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Dave the Diver
- Demonologist
- Disney Dreamlight Valley
- Everspace 2
- Farlight 84
- Marvel Snap
- My Time at Sandrock
- Ready or Not
- Sun Haven
- Wartales
Steam Deck (most played games on the device based on daily active player counts this year)
- Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Dave the Diver
- Elden Ring
- Half-Life
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Resident Evil 4 (remake)
- Starfield
- Vampire Survivors
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Controller (games most played using a gamepad)
- Apex Legends
- Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
- Call of Duty (MW III, Warzone, MW II)
- EA Sports FC 24
- Elden Ring
- FIFA 23
- Hogwarts Legacy
- NBA 2K23
- Resident Evil 4 (remake)
- Rocket League
- Starfield
- Street Fighter 6
VR (highest revenue earned)
- Beat Saber
- Blade & Sorcery
- Bonelab
- Boneworks
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2
- Ghosts of Tabor
- Gorilla Tag
- Half-Life: Alyx
- Into the Radius VR
- Pavlov
- VTOL VR