Team Fortress 2 Just Smashed Its All-Time Concurrent Player Record Following Major Summer Update

Valve’s 16-year-old multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2 just broke its all-time record for concurrent Steam players following the release of a major summer update. 

Team Fortress 2 is currently being enjoyed by 247,449 concurrent players, making it the third most played game on the platform behind only Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (925,156) and Dota 2 (468,947) according to engagement tracking website SteamDB. 

This week’s figure, which is still climbing at the time of writing, dwarfs Team Fortress 2’s previous concurrent player record of 167,951 set back in December 2022. The recent surge in interest coincides with the release of a major summer update earlier this week which brought a wave of new content and tweaks to the game.

Summer update for @TeamFortress is out, and the game has broken its concurrent player count record, currently at 226K pic.twitter.com/awZyASp8rH

— SteamDB (@SteamDB) July 13, 2023

Earlier this year Valve announced that it had big plans for this year’s summer update and put out a call for Steam Workshop creators to submit their work for consideration to be included in the offering.

The update, which went live on July 12, saw the addition of 14 new community maps to the cult title alongside fresh taunts, war paints, stability improvements, and tweaks to existing levels and numerous other improvements.

Team Fortress 2 has suffered its fair share of ups and downs over its lifespan including a prolonged bot problem that galvanised the community to rally together and call on developer Valve to save the game. The campaign saw Valve publicly acknowledge the issue and the developer has since released a number of updates and fixes. As it stands, Team Fortress 2 has a 93% positive rating from the over 8,600 Steam reviews that have been posted in the last 30 days.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer