Best-Selling Video Games of 2024: Steam and Console Market Analysis

Key insights

7 takeaways

01
Indie titles dominated the 2024 Steam charts, occupying seven of the top 10 spots by units sold, including hits like Palworld, Chained Together, and Supermarket Simulator.
02
Black Myth: Wukong was the top-selling game on Steam in 2024, following a massive launch that saw it reach 10 million units sold across PC and PS5 in just three days.
03
Sports simulation games dominated console platforms in 2024, accounting for half of the top 10 best-selling titles on both PlayStation and Xbox.
04
While all top 20 games on PlayStation sold over 1 million units, the Xbox market showed significantly lower volume, with only four titles reaching the 1 million unit threshold.
05
A new indie microgenre, defined as 'intricate first-person store management sims,' emerged as a major trend in 2024, led by titles like Supermarket Simulator and TCG Card Shop Simulator.
06
Path of Exile 2 achieved a top 5 position on Steam by units sold despite only launching on December 6, peaking at over 578,000 concurrent players.
07
Black Myth: Wukong attracted over 3.5 million PS5 players in China, a figure estimated to represent more than 50% of the console's total sales in that region.

Summary

The 2024 video game market analysis highlights a significant divergence in consumer behavior between PC and console platforms. While the Steam ecosystem is increasingly driven by independent developers, the console market remains heavily reliant on established sports simulation franchises. The findings, based on data from GameDiscoverCo, emphasize that indie titles secured seven of the top ten spots on Steam by units sold, whereas sports games accounted for half of the top ten best-selling titles on both PlayStation and Xbox.

On Steam, high-performing titles were characterized by strong unit sales, with every game in the top ten selling over one million copies. Black Myth: Wukong, Palworld, and Helldivers 2 emerged as the year's primary leaders. The analysis also identifies a rising trend in "intricate first-person store management simulators," exemplified by titles like Supermarket Simulator. When measured by gross revenue rather than unit volume, the Steam rankings shifted to favor higher-priced AAA titles and games featuring robust downloadable content or in-app purchases, such as Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 and Dragon’s Dogma 2.

The console landscape presented a stark contrast in performance metrics. PlayStation demonstrated a healthier market for premium sales, with all top 20 titles exceeding one million units sold. Conversely, the Xbox market showed lower volume, with only four titles reaching the one-million-unit threshold. Sports simulations, including EA Sports FC 25 and various entries in the NBA 2K and WWE 2K series, dominated these platforms. Additionally, the report notes that Nintendo Switch eShop downloads were led by first-party titles, including The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.