Valve's gaming platform Steam has 65 million users, beating out Xbox Live for the first time ever.
Steam — a gaming platform for PC, Mac and Linux — has gained 30% of its users in the last 12 months, according to a Valve press release. Xbox Live, Microsoft's gaming platform for the Xbox 360 that will carry over to the next-generation Xbox One, has 48 million active users.
See also: 10 Hot Indie Games to Watch
Steam started 10 years ago as an online platform for Valve games like Half-Life, and has evolved into a digital distribution platform and social network for gamers, with 3,000 titles from AAA publishers to bootstrapped indies.
"The main goal of Steam has always been to increase the quality of the user's experience by reducing the distance between content creators and their audience," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "As the platform grows, our job is to adapt to the changing needs of both the development and user communities. In the coming year, we plan to make perhaps our most significant collaborations with both communities through the Steam Dev Days and the Steam Machines beta."
Steam Machines were announced in September as the first hardware component for Steam, with the aim of bringing PC gaming into the living room with media boxes that could potentially stream from a more powerful computer. Valve also revealed its own operating system, Steam OS, a Linux-based environment for running games.
Valve's recent numbers boost could have also benefitted from the success of its game DOTA 2, a highly competitive MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) with 500,000 peak daily concurrent players.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
BONUS: Five Games to Play This Week
The Dark Knight is coming back to gaming this week for the third installment of the Arkham series of games.
This time, we meet a much younger and angrier Batman, as he deals with his first real challenges. The Black Mask has put a bounty on Batman's head; meanwhile, our hero must stop eight assassins and keep Gotham safe all at once.
Not only do players go head-to-head against some of the most interesting Batman villains, they must also use Batman's detective skills to solve mysteries.
Batman: Arkham Origins came out Friday for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and PC. There is also a companion 3DS and Vita game entitled Arkham Origins: Blackgate.
Nicoll Hunt was a man with a mission: He wanted to create the best brawler ever. When Hunt approached Kickstarter with his idea, the community happily embraced his wacky, 8-bit Fist of Awesome, in which players fight angry deer and bears that are trying to destroy humanity. Did we mention there's also time travel involved? The game is just as epic as you'd expect.
Fist of Awesome is out on iOS, Android, OUYA and GameStick, with PC and Mac versions in the works. It costs $3.99.
Cooperative games are rare, wonderful finds, especially ones that mix action and puzzles well. The team behind Forced was so committed to good co-op, they spent years living in closed quarters to get their game made. Forced is a top-down, twin-stick action game for PC, Mac, Linux and Wii U that forces up to four players to cooperate to survive levels of punishing gladiator training. Each player has their own unique powers and weapons. The game is fast-paced, and each stage adds a new challenge. It fills a huge gap in the co-op world. Forced is out this week for $15.
Lego games have their own special kind of appeal, uniting kids and adults with their whimsical and fun gameplay.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes continues that unique tradition by allowing players to inhabit all of their favorite Marvel characters in minifig form. Users can inhabit the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Spider Man, members of the X-Men and even famous comic creator Stan Lee, as they battle through a Lego version of New York City.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes is out this week for Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, 3DS and PS Vita. It will also come to next-generation consoles when they launch.
If you've missed yelling "Objection!" at every turn, gaming's favorite attorney is back with his fifth game to hit North American shores.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Duel Destinies is the series' first entry onto the more powerful 3DS handheld.
Players go through five cases with Phoenix and his protégés, Apollo and Athena. Fun for fans of the series as well as new players, it's a game with a quirky story and lots of detective work.
Duel Destinies debuted Thursday for 3DS. It costs $39.99.
Image: Valve