As of February 2024, the most recent Steam statistics on software and hardware revealed a surprising development: Simplified Chinese has surpassed English as the most widely used language on the platform, claiming the top spot.
Specifically, Simplified Chinese is now utilized by 32.84% of platform users, marking a significant increase of 7.62% compared to the previous survey. Meanwhile, English usage has decreased to 31.12%, a decline of 4.05%. Russian holds the third position with 9.27%, down by 0.76%.
This intriguing shift indicates the expanding influence of Steam in the East, contrasting with a more stagnant situation in the West. The substantial rise of Simplified Chinese has had a ripple effect, resulting in a decrease in usage for all other major languages.
It is noteworthy that the top three games on the Steam bestsellers list in China are free-to-play titles (PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, Counter-Strike 2, and Naraka: Bladepoint), along with a game exclusive to China: 雀魂麻將 (MahjongSoul).
In summary, the Chinese market is gaining increasing significance in the realm of PC gaming, despite Steam being officially restricted in this region.
Source from www.playground.ru