Steam's continued annual tradition of publishing the top 100 selling games of the year has continued for 2018. The "Top Sellers" list doesn't provide specific sales information, but rather places groups into tiers of sales. This year there are 12 total games that make-up Steam's "Platinum" tier, the most successful of all games on Steam. 2018's top games won't surprise many, but the list does provide some healthy perspective into what kind of games are making money on Steam anymore.

Keep in mind that Steam's Top Sellers list is not limited to games released solely in 2018, and that it measures gross revenue as opposed to individual game sales. As such, many of the year's Top Sellers are finding their success off the back of DLC and microtransactions. The individual tiers also do not rank the games within them, randomly shuffling them with each web page refresh. Nevertheless, there are some familiar names to find here:

  • The Elder Scrolls Online
  • Far Cry 5
  • Dota 2
  • Grand Theft Auto 5
  • Warframe
  • Rocket League
  • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
  • Civilization 6
  • PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
  • Rainbow Six Siege
  • Monster Hunter World
  • Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Steam's Top Sellers list is that only three games in the Platinum tier that were actually released in 2018: Far Cry 5, Monster Hunter World, and Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Also interesting, but also somewhat disappointing, is that there isn't a single game on the list that doesn't offer some sort of microtransaction or DLC for purchase.

steam top sellers 2018 gold

In the next tier down from Platinum, the Gold Tier, there are another 12 games. Two are from 2018, in Kingdom Come Deliverance and Jurassic World: Evolution. Again, all of the games in this tier feature DLC or microtransactions. However, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Divinity: Original Sin 2 aren't necessarily comparable to the same degree. Also, MMOs and online games including Dead by Daylight, Path of Exile, and Black Desert Online continue to prove successful.

The Silver tier is where some more unique titles start to break in. For example, indie darlings Raft, Subnatuica, The Forest, and Frostpunk are all part of the Silver tier. Then the Bronze tier–the final tier of 60 games–features a robust mix of indie and AAA titles, single player and multiplayer, old and new. There's even a place for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim here.

Steam's "End of Year" feature includes a variety of other lists to peruse, including the top releases for each month of 2018, the top-selling VR games of 2018, and the top games leaving Early Access.

Source: Steam