Steam

The game that came out more than seven years ago and has been a hit on Steam this Christmas, surpassed only by ARC Raiders

Quantic Dream’s latest adventure peaked at nearly 1 million sales in the last two weeks. Why?

Update: Jan 7th, 2026 17:25 CET

No one should be surprised that video games sell like hotcakes during the holiday season. But what has taken everyone by surprise is that Detroit: Become Human, a title released in 2018, has become Steam’s second best-selling game over the past two weeks after selling a whopping nearly one million units.

According to a report shared by Alinea Analytics (via Insider Gaming), Valve generated $1.6 billion in December 2025, representing a 22% increase over last year. ARC Raiders was the game that contributed most to this increase, but the other major contributor was Detroit: Become Human, which sold 993,000 copies between December 21 and January 5. How is it possible that a game released almost eight years ago could sell so much in such a short time? Apparently, it was due to a huge discount that brought the price of the game down to just $4.

Detroit: Become Human breaks its record for simultaneous users almost eight years after its release

Faced with such a huge discount, hundreds of thousands of players didn’t think twice. They snapped up Detroit: Become Human and helped its number of simultaneous players skyrocket to 25,615 on January 4, reaching its highest figure to date. ARC Raiders sold 1.2 million units in the same period, and the bestseller list is rounded out by other popular titles such as PEAK, Battlefield 6, and R.E.P.O.