Steam Replay 2025 shows older games dominate playtime, even with releases like Expedition 33

Steam Replay 2025 was released a few days ago, and if you want to see your own stats, we have a handy guide that walks you through it. The latest data, however, shows that most Steam users are still spending the majority of their time playing older games, despite major 2025 releases like Expedition 33, Hollow Knight Silksong, Battlefield 6, and ARC Raiders.

This raises an obvious question. Is this a new trend, or something that has been building for years?

Steam is currently running its Winter Sale, with heavy discounts across thousands of older titles, and that behavior is reflected in Steam’s most-played charts. While some 2025 releases are maintaining healthy player counts, the biggest games on the platform are still typically older, well-established titles.

A closer look at how Steam players are spending their time

Steam Replay 2025 offers valuable insight into personal play habits, while also showing how the wider Steam audience is spending its time. The data shows that only 14% of total playtime came from games released in 2025.

It does not stop there. Steam also breaks down how players engage with slightly older titles, revealing that 44% of total playtime was spent on games released between one and seven years ago. That alone outweighs new releases by a significant margin.

Classic games continue to perform strongly as well. Titles released eight or more years ago accounted for 40% of all playtime, once again surpassing engagement with new releases.

With this in mind, it raises a natural question about how these figures compare to previous years. Fortunately, Steam Replay makes it easy to look back at earlier data.

In 2024, 15% of playtime was spent on new releases. Recent releases accounted for 47%, while games eight or more years old made up 37% of total playtime.

Going back even further to 2023, the contrast becomes even clearer. Just 9% of playtime was spent on new games, while 52% went to recent releases and 38% to classic titles.

So how do your own stats stack up against the wider Steam audience? Are you spending most of your time jumping into newer releases, or do you find yourself sticking with recent favorites or even returning to classic games you have played for years?

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