The imminent arrival of the next-gen Xbox One and PS4 has reignited the age-old debate of PC gaming versus console gaming with the former usually in the minority. However Steam, the popular PC gaming platform, is set to change the board.
Recent numbers released by Valve show a steady 30% rise in active accounts, bringing its total active users to 65 million.
This number overshadows Microsoft, where Xbox Live only boasts 48 million members. On the other hand, Sony's PlayStation Network takes the lead with 110 million accounts, though it's unknown if this number accurately represents active users since one person can create multiple free accounts.
The increase of Steam users may be attributed to the popularity of its free-to-play games, with Dota 2 pulling in more than 500,000 players and Team Fortress 2 around 68,000.
Kicking consoles and taking numbers
There are both pros and cons to PC gaming and console gaming, so the debate really is null.
But if you insist on taking sides and numbers mean nothing to you, know that Steam is definitely not out for the count, especially with its foray into living room territory with Valve's Steam Machines, Steam controller and of course the Steam OS.
Look towards January 2014 for more announcements from the company thanks to the upcoming Steam dev days conference in Seattle, which is right after CES 2014. We hope to hear more about the hardware at the Vegas show too.
