As we close out 2025, Valve has released its list of best-performing games on Steam. There are plenty of names on these charts that won’t be a surprise to anyone who follows gaming news. The best-selling, highest-earning, and most played lists have just as many astonishing inclusions though, all of which prove 2025 was an unusual year for the video game industry.
Then again, even the no-brainer game names are wild when you put them into context. For example, extraction shooter Arc Raiders made it into the “platinum” rank of both top new releases and highest revenue. This doesn’t seem shocking at first, until you remember that Arc Raiders has only been available for purchase for a couple of months!
Indies make a strong showing in the list of highest moneymakers as well, standing tall against behemoths like Battlefield 6 and Borderlands 4. What makes the appearance of games like Hollow Knight: Silksong and Schedule 1 outstanding is that they raked in money comparable to AAA games, despite costing $19.99 and $9.99, respectively. Valve doesn’t share specific numbers here, either in terms of units or amount of revenue generated. But you’ve got to imagine the aforementioned games moved a lot of units to get on the platinum tier. Really, it was a good year for games under the typical $69.99 price tag, as evidenced by the platinum-tier inclusion of the $39.99 Elden Ring Nightreign as well.
And if you’re curious: Friendslop sensation Peak and its $7.99 cost also did well, just not quite enough to reach the highest possible rank. I’m guessing that indie developers Aggro Crab and Landfall Games are still thrilled to be somewhere high up on this list though, especially given that both studios are relatively small.
One noteworthy absence from the new release platinum ranks is Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Normally, the military shooter makes an appearance on every chart imaginable just by virtue of being a COD game. This year, however, Activision’s cash cow faltered enough that the publisher announced it would no longer put out Call of Duty games on a yearly schedule, alternating between Modern Warfare and Black Ops franchises, in order to avoid incremental sequels. We’ve come a long way from the meme of people swearing off playing the newest Call of Duty game only to buy it anyway. More importantly: Battlefield 6 finally took the FPS crown.
Another game that performed well with little fanfare was The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered — but given that we’re likely still years away from The Elder Scrolls 6, fans are probably taking what they can get. I’m also heartened to see games like Dune: Awakening and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 on the top revenue list as well. In the case of Dune, not only is the popularity unexpected, it’s also apparent that there’s still juice left to squeeze out of the survival genre. And there’s got to be a little solace here for anyone who believed that Warhorse Studios was robbed at The Game Awards.
Something that caught me off guard is the list of most popular Steam games. Titles like Grand Theft Auto 5 and Stardew Valley were guaranteed shoo-ins. But dang, are there still really that many people putting time into Left 4 Dead 2? This list in particular is basically a giant flex for Valve itself, given the appearance of Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2.
Cyberpunk 2077 also feels like a standout here. CD Projekt Red’s sci-fi RPG only makes an appearance on the gold tiers for top sellers and most played, but still. It’s been five years since the launch of Cyberpunk 2077. And despite the disastrous launch that saw the game pulled from storefronts, the more time goes by, the more evident it is that Cyberpunk 2077 might have longevity comparable to The Witcher 3.
You can see the full list of games here, at least theoretically — the page has had trouble populating since it went up.
