Valve's annual steam summer sale came to an end today. The event ran from June 11 to 21 with an encore period of the best deals available for two days after that. After twelve days of great deals and big discounts, Gaming's biggest bargain is gone until next year.
It was a record breaking period for the online marketplace. On June 14, 2015 the platform broke its record for number of concurrent users online when more than 10 million Steam users were logged in at the same time.
Steamspy, a website which tracks Steam purchase data, has a rough estimate of the bestselling games during the period. The site notes that figures are not 100% accurate because there are other storefronts around the web aside from stream where games can be purchased.
According to their figures, Valve's very own Counter Strike: Global Offensive was the top selling game over the sale period by a huge margin with over 630,000 copies sold. The next closest game, indie beat 'em up Castle Crashers, sold 390,000 units. Early access survival game Ark: Survival Evolved is the surprise bronze medallist. The game, which just hit steam a few weeks ago, shifted 370,000 copies. The full list can be seen on Steamspy's website.
All in all, nearly 41 million games were sold at an average price of $7.26. Generating revenues of $317 million.
The staggering sales figures are proof of the PC gaming market's continued ascendancy. Last week, tech website CNET published a report saying that PC game sales will surpass console sales by 2016.
Steam is one of the chief drivers of this growth. The article says:
"Steam's popularity stems from its various features, such as the ability to synchronize game files across various PCs, as well as semiregular discount and sales bundles. The company also encourages game developers to offer its users access to games that are still in development, which makes the service an attractive avenue for game makers hoping to test out ideas or crowdfund new projects."
