As of February 2025, the share of Chinese among all Steam users reached 53.34%. Over the previous month, the increase in the choice of Chinese language is 20.88%, writes Automaton.
At the same time, the share of users using Steam in English fell by 10.18% to 23.79%. It is also worth mentioning the share of Ukrainian, which, against the background of such sharp changes, decreased to 0.49%.
This increase in Chinese users is expected and happens almost every year. The main factor behind this is the Chinese New Year, which starts in late January and lasts until mid-February. Many Chinese people go on vacation and decide to spend their free time playing games.
Despite this, this year's growth is record-breaking. In previous years, the share of Chinese language increased by no more than 10%, in 2024 this figure was 7.26%. Even outside of holiday periods, the number of Chinese users has grown significantly over the past few years. Until 2020, English was the undisputed leader, but in recent years, the Chinese have been actively competing for supremacy on Steam.
This can be explained by the fact that the Chinese gaming market is also actively developing, an example of which is Black Myth: Wukong, which sold over 20 million copies. At the same time, the console market in 2024 grew by 55.13% compared to 2023.