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State of Free to Play on Steam in 2024

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Apr, 2024 Contact: sales@vginsights.com
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State of Free to Play on Steam in 2024
Is it getting a bit crowded in here?

Free to p lay on Steam is a huge market with engaged players, but the top
games have deeply rooted themselves, making new entry more challenging
Summarizing the Free to Play Games Market on Steam in 2024
FtP games capture over half of all player engagement on Steam 1
Counter -Strike and DOTA 2 have been leading the engagement charts for over 10 years 2
FtP games are very concentrated -top 25 FtP titles capture 88% of all FtP player
engagement 3
Only a few new FtP hits launched in the last 4 years – it is getting crowded as old er titles
remain popular 4
Premium games at $20 -$40 price point with live services elements might be an attractive
middle -ground 5
OVERVIEW OF THE REPORT
• This report focuses solely on the Free to Play
games available on Steam
• All of the data presented is gathered using the
Video Game Insights data intelligence platform
• Most of the report relies on a metric called CCU
– concurrent users – players playing the game at
any given time. The report often looks at the
average CCU throughout the year
Free to Play Games Market Trends Summarized in 6 Points
United States, China and Russia make up nearly 40% of all FtP players on Steam 6

Over half of the Steam players’ time was spent on free to play (FtP) games in
2023
Free to Play Games Dominate the Hours Played
TOTAL HOURS SPENT PLAYING FREE TO PLAY VS PREMIUM GAMES ON STEAM IN 2023,
BY PRICE OF THE GAME
• Majority of the games on Steam are premium games.
This applies to both indie and AAA games
• Yet, majority of players’ playtime is spent on free to play
titles
• 51% of all time spent playing games on Steam in 2023
was spent on FtP titles
• Only 11% of the time was spent on premium titles
priced at over 50 USD – a typical premium AAA title
range
• Interestingly, the 10 -50 USD price range also carried
significant timeshare
11%
31%
8%
51%
Over $50 Games
$10 -50 Games
Under $10 Games
Free to Play Games

Majority of the top 10 played Steam games in 2023 were free to play, with only
1 of the games being a more traditional premium game
Top Played Games are Mostly Free to Play
Counter -Strike 2
Dota 2
Apex Legends
PUBG
THE FINALS
Grand Theft Auto V
Baldur’s Gate 3
Team Fortress 2
Rust
Call of Duty®
877k
429k
198k
195k
121k
102k
95k
88k
83k
78k
Free to Play
Premium Live Services
Pure Premium
• 8/10 top CCU games in 2023 were FtP live services
games
• Only Rust was a premium game with live services
elements – microtransactions, regular updates,
multiplayer focus
• Only Baldur’s Gate 3 was a more traditional premium
game
TOP 10 GAMES ON STEAM BY AVG CCU 1, 2023
1. Average concurrent players across the yea r
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10

FtP games have lost share recently as high quality premium titles and paid live
service titles steal player attention
Recent Premium Launches Have Stolen Share from Ft P
50% 56% 51% 44%
6%
6% 8%
8%
38% 31% 31% 37%
5% 7% 11% 12%
2021 2022 2023 2024
Over 50 USD
10 -50 USD
Under 10 USD
Free to Play
• FtP games have recently lost share to new successful
premium and paid, but live service dependent games
• 10 -50 USD price range games have seen a boom in live
service dependent games double -dipping by also
charging upfront – Palworld, Helldivers 2, New World
• Over 50 USD games have gained share since 2021,
driven by:
• Overperforming hits – Elden Ring, Hogwarts
Legacy, Baldur’s Gate 3
• Xbox & Sony titles coming to Steam – Forza
series, Starfield, God of War, Spider -Man, Days
Gone, The Last of Us Part 2
TOTAL HOURS SPENT PLAYING FREE TO PLAY VS PREMIUM GAMES ON STEAM, BY PRICE OF THE GAME,
2021 -24

Player engagement in the free to play space is very concentrated – top 10 FtP
games capture c. 70% of the players’ attention in this winner takes all game
Top FtP Games Steal Majority of the Player Attention
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
#0 #5 #10 #15 #20 #25 #30 #35 #40 #45 #50 #55 #60 #65 #70 #75 #80 #85 #90 #95 #100
Number of Games, Ordered by Highest to Lowest CCU
% of Total CCU Share
Free to Play Games
Counter -Strike 2 alone is
over 25% of all FtP
games’ CCU
Top 5 games capture
nearly 60% of the CCU
MARVEL SNAP ranks top 49 in the FtP
ranking in 2023. It is a major mobile hit
with tens of millions of downloads. Yet, it
has “only” had c. 700k downloads on
Steam and averages c. 5k CCU
Rocket League was #20 in the top CCU
rank in 2023 with 20k average CCU,
c. 40x less than CS2 in the #1 spot
Active User (CCU) Concentration Curve for Free to Play Games on Steam in 2023

Premium games tend to have a much longer tail. Top 50 FtP games capture 95%
of all player engagement while top 50 premium games only capture c. 50%
Free to Play Games Are Much More Winner Takes it All than Premium Games
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
#0 #5 #10 #15 #20 #25 #30 #35 #40 #45 #50 #55 #60 #65 #70 #75 #80 #85 #90 #95 #100
% of Total CCU Share
Number of Games, Ordered by Highest to Lowest CCU
Free to Play Games
Premium Games
Active User (CCU) Concentration Curve for Free to Play and Premium Games on Steam in 2023

Top free to play titles are getting old – in fact, the average age of a top 10 FtP
title on Steam in 2023 was 7 years
Average Age of a Free to Play Title is Getting Olde r
12Y 11Y
4Y
7Y
9Y
17Y
4Y 3Y 2Y
Counter –
Strike 2
Dota 2 Apex
Legends
PUBG Grand Theft
Auto V
Team
Fortress 2
Call of Duty® NARAKA:
BLADEPOINT
Lost Ark The Finals
0Y
Original
release year 2012 1 2013 2020 2017 2015 2007 2020 2 2021 2022
1. CS:GO release date. CS2 was released in 2023, but followed from the same Steam link and is a close enough successor to be coun ted as the same game
2. Original CoD series launched in 2003. The FtP version called Warzone was released in 2020
TOP 10 FREE TO PLAY TITLES ON STEAM IN 2023 AND HOW MANY YEARS THEY’VE BEEN AROUND
20 23
Highest to lowest avg CCU

CHANGE
IN RANK
=
=
NEW
-1
-1
-1
-1
-1
NEW
NEW
FtP space is getting crowded – newer titles have a hard time breaking in as
older titles remain popular for longer
Top Played Free to Play Games on Steam Over Time , by Avg CCU 2
TOP 10 F TP GAMES ON STEAM IN
2021
TOP 10 F TP GAMES ON STEAM IN
202 2
TOP 10 F TP GAMES ON STEAM IN
202 3
TOP 10 F TP GAMES ON STEAM IN
202 4
Counter -Strike 2
Dota 2
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
Apex Legends
Grand Theft Auto V
Team Fortress 2
Destiny 2
MIR4
Warframe
Football Manager 2022
Counter -Strike 2
Dota 2
Lost Ark
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
Apex Legends
Grand Theft Auto V
Team Fortress 2
Destiny 2
Call of Duty®
NARAKA: BLADEPOINT
Counter -Strike 2
Dota 2
Apex Legends
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
The Finals
Grand Theft Auto V
Team Fortress 2
Call of Duty®
NARAKA: BLADEPOINT
Lost Ark
Counter -Strike 2
Dota 2
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
Apex Legends
Grand Theft Auto V
NARAKA: BLADEPOINT
Call of Duty®
Team Fortress 2
War Thunder
Warframe
RANK
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
CHANGE
IN RANK
=
=
+2
=
NEW
=
=
+1
+1
-7
CHANGE
IN RANK
=
=
+1
-1
+1
+3
+1
-1
RET 1
RET 1
1. Warframe is a Returning title from 2021 top 10 and both Warframe and War Thunder first launched in 2013
2. Average concurrent players across the yea r
Only 2 new Free to Play titles have entered the top 10 in the last 3 years and remained there for 2024
– CoD Warzone and Naraka: Bladepoint

Recent examples of Palworld and Helldivers 2 prove that you don’t have to be a
FtP game to gather a massive audience and monetize through live services
Paid, but Live Service Orientated Games Launched on Steam in 2024
Price
Units Sold
Peak CCU
Live Services
$39.99
11M
0.5M
Yes
$29.99
18M
2.1M
Yes, but no
MTX 1
1. Has regular updates and support, but doesn’t have microtransactions or in -game spend in general (yet)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
0M
2M
4M
6M
8M
10M
12M
14M
16M
18M
Millions of Units
Days Since Launch
Helldivers 2
Palworld
Cumulative Sales on Steam Since Launch Date, Palworld & Helldivers 2

United States, China and Russia are the three critical tier 1 territories for a FtP
game to succeed on Steam
3 Countries Make up Almost 40% of All FtP Players on Steam
15%
12%
11%
5%
3% 3% 3% 3%
40%
United States
China
Russia
Brazil
Canada
Germany
Japan
Poland
UK
Turkey
Other
3% 3%
• Looking at the top free to play nations, it becomes clear quickly that a successful
FtP game has to cater for at least one of the three “Tier 1” territories – US, China
or Russia.
• As Russia is currently off the table, the leading FtP games tend to be made by
either Chinese studios that can also appeal outside of China or Western studios
that manage to attract Chinese players
• Tier 1 FtP Countries – critical for a FtP success
• United States, China, Russia
• Large populations and in the case of China & Russia – lower disposable
incomes and a gaming culture that’s grown up with FtP being the norm
• Tier 2 FtP Countries – other important territories to focus on
• Brazil, Canada, Germany, Japan, Poland, UK, Turkey
• Split between high income vs low income tier 2 territories with respectively
different characteristics
• Collectively make up c. 23% of the FtP players
Geographic Split of the Owners of the Top 10 Free to Play Games on Steam

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Appendix

Definitions and methodology
Glossary
Terms Definitions
AA /AAA games Large budget games developed by massive teams and companies. AAA game budgets are typically over $100M to develop
CAGR Compound annual growth rate
CCU Concurrent users – active players in -game
FtP Free to play games
Full Game Revenue Revenue from the direct sale of a game, excluding any DLC and MTX revenues
IAP In-app purchases
Indie games Games developed by independent studios. This covers a large range of studios from 1 person hobby projects to larger studios o f a
few hundred employees, but budgets still fall far short of the AAA game levels
MTX Microtransactions
Unit Sales Estimate Using different estimation methods, including an algorithm based on our internal database of actual sales and the Boxleiter
method to get from Steam review numbers to estimated sales. Detailed overview of the method is highlighted in the section bel ow
Revenue Estimate Estimated units sold multiplied by the price at the time. This is gross revenue, including the Steam cut, but adjusted for lo cal
currencies, returned products and discounts
More information:
Definitions: https://vginsights.com/about
Methodology: https://vginsights.com/insights/article/steam -sales -estimation -methodology -and -accuracy
Email: Support@vginsights.com

Legal Disclaimer
Legal Stuff. We’ll Keep It Brief
Video Game Insights (VGI) is in no way affiliated with Steam or Valve.
All data provided in this report is freely available and can be shared without any restrictions.
All data provided in this report is based on estimates and should be considered as such.
VGI uses third -party suppliers and applications, often internet enabled. VG Insights can therefore not guarantee the accuracy of all data coming from third parties. This might be due to
mis -tagging or mis -reporting of data and VG Insights will adjust and fix the issues when highlighted to us.
Limitation of liability
VGI hereby declines any and all liability for damage, consequential loss and/or indirect loss owing to the use of VG Insights ’ d ata and services.