With Sony’s upcoming move to cease game disc production from 2028 onwards, the conversation surrounding the future of console gaming has reached a fever pitch. For many, the traditional console appeal—affordable hardware and simple, plug-and-play physical media—is rapidly fading in favor of $1,000+ consoles, reliance on digital licenses that can be revoked, and massive mandatory downloads.
As the barrier to entry for consoles rises, the PC ecosystem is seeing a massive influx of players. Data broken down in the latest GameDiscoverCo newsletter suggests that Steam is currently flying ahead of its console competition. While Valve rarely discloses exact figures, reverse-engineering available data reveals that Steam saw roughly 198 million monthly active users (MAU) in 2025.
How Steam's User Lead Was Calculated
The figure was uncovered using data from the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which showed 31.1 million MAUs in the EU during the second half of 2025. By cross-referencing this with Steam’s global bandwidth charts—where Western and Eastern Europe account for 15.7 percent of the platform’s traffic after excluding non-EU countries—analysts were able to extrapolate a global figure of 198 million MAU. This is further corroborated by concurrent user data, which peaked at approximately 40 million in late 2025, pointing toward an even higher end-of-year estimate of 210 million users.
In contrast, the PlayStation Network—which aggregates data from PS4, PS5, and some PC users—reported 125 million MAU at the end of March 2026. This puts Steam in a commanding position with an lead of nearly 75 million active users over the largest console network currently on the market.
The Growing Divide in Gaming Revenue
This shift in user activity is reflected in financial performance as well. PC gaming has recorded a 12 percent year-over-year growth in revenue, significantly outpacing the 2.8 percent growth seen in the console market. With the looming threat of the PlayStation 6 potentially monopolizing game pricing by eliminating the second-hand and physical markets, it is likely that even more players will migrate to the open ecosystem of PC.
Unlike the locked-down nature of the upcoming console generation, PC gaming retains a competitive marketplace. Platforms like the Epic Games Store continue to challenge Steam with free giveaways, while frequent sales drive prices down across the board. Furthermore, storefronts like GOG prioritize the preservation of gaming history by offering DRM-free titles, ensuring that players maintain control over their libraries—a level of ownership that will not be available on the PS6.
As gamers look for an escape from the floundering console market, the gap between the open PC ecosystem and the increasingly restrictive console environment seems poised to widen even further in the coming years.