Half-Life 2 sets new concurrent player record as it turns 20, quadrupling previous peak

Two decades after launch, Gordon Freeman's iconic adventures can still pull in some impressive numbers. The 2004-released Half-Life 2 managed to break into Steam's top 20 most-played games portion earlier today. While the game is currently free to claim on the platform thanks to the latest anniversary celebration, a classic single-player game gaining this much momentum is an impressive feat.

As recorded on SteamDB, the newly-updated Half-Life 2 managed to hit 64,085 players a few hours ago as the masses of PC gamers dived into the game on Sunday. Keep in mind that SteamDB's player-count record-keeping only began in 2018, so we can't say just how many players the game had when it launched in 2004.

The available data shows that Half-Life 2 achieved 16,101 players in August of 2021, which is when a community event attempted, and succeeded at, breaking the all-time concurrent peak of the game. A similar community event from 2012 had held the previous record at 12,953 prior to the later developments.

Just as Half-Life 2 turned 20 a few days ago, Valve also released a major update to the game. The Half-Life 2 20th Anniversary Update added Episode One and Episode Two campaign expansions to the base game, offering the complete experience without having to purchase additional content. An interactive developer commentary mode, restored cut content, bug fixes, Steam Workshop support, and an entire documentary about the development landed as well. Find all the details here.

At the time of writing this, the offer to claim Half-Life 2 for free is still live too, offering Steam users access to the base game and both expansions. Don't forget about the community remaster using Nvidia's RTX tools that are currently in development, which will be a free upgrade to the game when it's available.

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