Valve dropped its annual breakdown of Steam’s best-selling games for 2025, and the list reads like a strange mix of predictable blockbusters, technical disasters that somehow printed money anyway, and obscure titles most people have never heard of. The top 100 games are divided into Platinum (top 12), Gold (13-24), Silver (25-50), and Bronze (51-100) tiers, offering a fascinating snapshot of what PC gamers actually bought this year.
What stands out immediately is that some of the year’s most criticized games performed incredibly well despite widespread complaints about performance, content, or design choices. Monster Hunter Wilds landed in the Platinum tier as a top 12 seller even though Digital Foundry just named it one of 2025’s worst PC ports. Civilization VII made the same tier despite launch issues and fan backlash over controversial changes. Apparently, brand power and marketing budgets matter more than review scores and technical polish.
The Platinum Tier Winners Nobody Expected
Steam’s Platinum tier represents the absolute best sellers, though Valve doesn’t rank them within the tier. The 12 games are listed in no particular order: R.E.P.O., PUBG Battlegrounds, Borderlands 4, Battlefield 6, Marvel Rivals, Dota 2, Schedule I, Counter-Strike 2, Arc Raiders, Monster Hunter Wilds, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty.
Several of these choices feel strange when you dig into the details. R.E.P.O., a multiplayer extraction shooter that launched in February 2025, somehow outsold massive franchises to claim a Platinum spot. Schedule I, a relatively unknown title, also cracked the top 12. These aren’t household names like Call of Duty or Battlefield, yet they moved enough units or generated enough revenue through microtransactions to compete with gaming’s biggest brands.
The free-to-play titles make complete sense from a revenue perspective even if they didn’t sell traditional copies. Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Marvel Rivals, and Apex Legends all feature aggressive monetization through loot boxes, battle passes, and cosmetic items. CS2 alone generates billions annually through skin trading and case openings, creating a gambling-adjacent economy that flies under mainstream gaming media scrutiny despite the massive financial scale.
Monster Hunter Wilds Proves Brand Beats Performance
Monster Hunter Wilds launched in February 2025 with catastrophic performance problems across all platforms. Frame rate instability plagued even high-end PCs. Texture pop-in and hitching made the experience miserable. Digital Foundry’s Alex Battaglia called it “definitely one of the poorest games I’ve reviewed in a long time from a technical performance perspective.” Four major patches later, optimization remains an ongoing disaster.
None of that stopped the game from becoming a Platinum-tier best seller. Capcom’s action RPG moved enough copies to rank alongside Call of Duty and Battlefield despite user reviews being mixed at best and technical analysts actively warning people away from the PC version. The Monster Hunter brand carries such weight that fans bought it anyway, hoping patches would eventually fix the problems or just accepting terrible performance as the price of entry.
Capcom has promised bigger performance improvements throughout 2026, but even those will be spread across multiple months. By the time Monster Hunter Wilds runs acceptably on PC, it will be approaching its one-year anniversary. The fact that it still became a top seller sends a clear message to publishers: you can ship broken games if the brand is strong enough, because people will buy them anyway and wait for fixes that may or may not arrive.
The Gold Tier Had 2025’s Best Games
While Platinum focused on revenue juggernauts and free-to-play behemoths, the Gold tier (positions 13-24) captured many of 2025’s actual best games. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won multiple Game of the Year awards including from GamesRadar. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 delivered the dense medieval RPG experience fans craved. Baldur’s Gate 3 continued its incredible sales run despite launching in 2023, proving that quality sustains sales long after release.
This tier also featured The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, which surprised many observers by performing so strongly. The 19-year-old game got a fresh coat of paint and immediately became one of Steam’s biggest sellers, demonstrating that nostalgia combined with modern conveniences creates powerful sales opportunities. It outsold numerous 2025 releases that cost far more to develop.
Elden Ring: Nightreign, the standalone multiplayer expansion to FromSoftware’s massive hit, also landed in Gold despite mixed reception from fans who wanted traditional single-player content. Helldivers 2 continued its impressive performance, remaining a top seller nearly a year after launch with no microtransaction-heavy monetization compared to competitors. The game proves live-service doesn’t require predatory mechanics to succeed.
Silver and Bronze Tiers Show Gaming’s Diversity
The Silver tier (25-50) mixed recent blockbusters with evergreen titles that never stop selling. Grand Theft Auto V appeared 12 years after its original release, still moving copies through constant sales and the online component’s microtransactions. Assassin’s Creed Shadows landed here despite controversy over historical accuracy debates that dominated discourse around its launch.
Dying Light: The Beast performed remarkably well considering it launched in late December, showing that the franchise maintains strong fan loyalty. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 proved there’s substantial appetite for well-executed licensed games in beloved universes. Civilization VII appeared in Silver tier as well, suggesting it didn’t perform quite as strongly as the Platinum placement might indicate, or perhaps Valve’s tiering methodology accounts for factors beyond raw revenue.
Bronze tier (51-100) showcased Steam’s incredible diversity. Black Myth: Wukong appeared despite being one of 2024’s biggest releases, suggesting its sales momentum carried into 2025. Stardew Valley continues selling after nine years. Palworld remained relevant despite the Pokemon lawsuit hanging over it. Team Fortress 2, a game from 2007, still generates enough revenue through cosmetics and trading to rank in the top 100 sellers nearly two decades later.
Where Were the Surprises?
Several highly anticipated games failed to crack even the Bronze tier. Major releases that dominated headlines apparently didn’t translate media coverage into sales success. Meanwhile, titles like Schedule I and R.E.P.O. that flew under the radar somehow became massive sellers, suggesting word-of-mouth and niche appeal sometimes matter more than marketing budgets.
The absence of certain expected titles raises questions about Steam’s methodology. Does the list measure revenue, units sold, or some combination? Free-to-play games obviously can’t rank by copies sold, so revenue must factor in somewhere. But then how do you compare a $70 game selling a million copies against a free game with 10 million players spending varying amounts on microtransactions? Valve hasn’t clarified the exact metrics.
What This List Says About PC Gaming
The 2025 best sellers reveal several trends. First, technical performance matters far less than publishers hope when negative reviews cite optimization. Brands like Monster Hunter, Civilization, and Borderlands sell regardless of launch state because fans trust the underlying gameplay even when the wrapper is broken. This encourages shipping unfinished products with promises of future patches.
Second, free-to-play games with aggressive monetization dominate revenue even if they don’t sell traditional copies. Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and similar titles generate billions through gambling-adjacent mechanics that receive surprisingly little scrutiny compared to other forms of monetization. Valve benefits enormously from hosting these economies while taking cuts of every transaction.
Third, older games refuse to die on PC. Grand Theft Auto V, Baldur’s Gate 3, Stardew Valley, and Team Fortress 2 prove that quality titles continue selling indefinitely when properly supported or simply good enough to sustain player interest. This is fundamentally different from console gaming where older titles fade as platforms change and backwards compatibility remains inconsistent.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Steam’s best-selling game of 2025?
Valve doesn’t rank games within tiers, so there’s no single number one. The Platinum tier contains the top 12 sellers including Counter-Strike 2, Battlefield 6, Monster Hunter Wilds, Call of Duty, Marvel Rivals, and others. These games generated the most revenue or sold the most units depending on Valve’s exact methodology, which hasn’t been publicly detailed.
Why is Monster Hunter Wilds a top seller despite terrible PC performance?
Brand strength and franchise loyalty allowed Monster Hunter Wilds to succeed despite being labeled one of 2025’s worst PC ports by Digital Foundry. Fans trusted Capcom would eventually fix the performance issues and bought the game anyway. This demonstrates that established franchises can survive poor technical launches if the underlying gameplay appeals to their dedicated audience.
How does Steam calculate best sellers?
Valve hasn’t publicly explained whether the rankings measure revenue, units sold, or a combination of metrics. Free-to-play games like Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2 obviously can’t rank by copies sold, suggesting revenue factors heavily. However, comparing $70 premium games against free titles with varying microtransaction spending creates methodology questions Valve hasn’t addressed.
Why are old games like GTA V still best sellers?
PC gaming’s backwards compatibility and digital distribution mean quality games continue selling indefinitely. Grand Theft Auto V benefits from constant sales, GTA Online’s microtransactions, and new players discovering it years after launch. Unlike console gaming where platform changes can kill older titles, PC games remain accessible as long as they run on modern operating systems.
What’s R.E.P.O. and how did it crack the top 12?
R.E.P.O. is a multiplayer extraction shooter that launched in February 2025. It apparently built strong word-of-mouth despite limited mainstream coverage and generated enough revenue or sales to compete with massive franchises. Its success demonstrates that niche titles can sometimes outperform major releases through dedicated communities and viral growth.
Did Xbox games do well on Steam?
Yes. According to XboxEra’s breakdown, Microsoft Gaming titles appeared in every tier from Platinum through Bronze. This includes Halo, Forza Horizon 5, and other franchises. Microsoft’s commitment to day-one Steam releases for its first-party games continues paying off with strong sales performance across the board.
Why is Civilization VII on the list despite negative fan reception?
Civilization VII launched with technical issues and design changes that upset long-time fans, but the franchise’s strength ensured strong initial sales regardless. Players bought it based on the Civilization brand even before reviews and community sentiment turned negative. Whether the game maintains player engagement long-term remains uncertain, but initial revenue secured its spot on the list.
Conclusion
Steam’s 2025 best sellers list confirms what many suspected: brand power matters more than technical polish, free-to-play monetization generates staggering revenue, and quality games continue selling for years regardless of age. The presence of Monster Hunter Wilds and Civilization VII in top tiers despite widespread criticism about performance and design proves that established franchises can weather negative reception through pure brand loyalty. Meanwhile, obscure titles like R.E.P.O. and Schedule I cracking the Platinum tier demonstrates that word-of-mouth and niche appeal sometimes trump massive marketing budgets. For publishers, the message is clear: shipping broken games carries minimal financial risk if the brand is strong enough, which doesn’t bode well for those hoping the industry will prioritize technical quality at launch. For players, the list serves as a reminder to look beyond marketing hype and best seller rankings when deciding what to buy, because commercial success and actual quality don’t always align. As we head into 2026, expect more of the same: big brands dominating sales regardless of launch state, free-to-play games monetizing aggressively while flying under scrutiny, and the occasional surprise hit proving that great games can still break through if they find their audience.