The Steam Replay 2025 feature recently became available, providing users with insights into their gaming habits. Analysis of this data reveals that many Steam users continue to spend the majority of their time on older titles, even with significant 2025 releases such as Expedition 33, Hollow Knight Silksong, Battlefield 6, and ARC Raiders.
This observation prompts a question: Is this a recent development, or a long-standing pattern?
Steam is currently running its Winter Sale, with heavy discounts across thousands of older titles, and that behavior is reflected in Steam’s most-played charts. While some 2025 releases are maintaining healthy player counts, the biggest games on the platform are still typically older, well-established titles.
Player Engagement on Steam: A Detailed Look
Steam Replay 2025 provides valuable insights into both individual and collective player behavior. The data indicates that only 14% of total playtime was dedicated to games released in 2025.
Further analysis shows that 44% of total playtime was spent on games released between one and seven years ago, significantly surpassing the engagement with new releases.
Classic games also demonstrate strong performance, with titles released eight or more years ago accounting for 40% of all playtime, again exceeding the time spent on new releases.
Understanding these figures requires a comparison to previous years, which Steam Replay facilitates.
In 2024, new releases comprised 15% of playtime. Recent releases accounted for 47%, and games eight or more years old made up 37% of total playtime.
Looking back to 2023, the trend is even more pronounced: new games received only 9% of playtime, while recent releases took 52%, and classic titles held 38%.
