In a remarkable festive season twist, a six-year-old PlayStation 4 title emerged as one of the biggest hits on Steam during the 2025 Christmas period. The narrative-driven sci-fi adventure Detroit: Become Human sold a staggering 993,000 copies between December 21 and January 4, narrowly missing the one million mark and securing its place as the platform's second best-selling game.
Steam Shatters Revenue Records
The backdrop to this surprise success was a record-breaking month for Valve's digital storefront. According to data from Alinea Analytics, Steam generated a colossal $1.6 billion (£1.18 billion) in gross revenue during December 2025. This figure represents a 22.7% increase compared to December 2024 and even surpasses the pandemic-driven highs of December 2020, which saw revenue of $1.4 billion (£1 billion).
The seasonal Steam Winter Sale, running from December 21 to January 4, was the primary driver behind this surge. While the extraction shooter Arc Raiders topped the sales chart with 1.2 million copies sold (boosted by a 20% discount), it was the performance of the 2018 Quantic Dream title that turned heads.
The Unlikely Contender: Detroit's Resurgence
Detroit: Become Human, a choice-based adventure game known for its bold narrative, was offered at a massive 90% discount during the sale. This brought its price down to just $4 (approximately £3.40) for US customers. The irresistible price point led to an unprecedented spike in concurrent players, with over 25,000 people playing the title on Steam on January 4, 2026, according to SteamDB.
The reasons behind this specific title's resurgence, beyond its low price, remain somewhat unclear. The game holds an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' rating on Steam, suggesting strong word-of-mouth. Its sales dramatically outpaced other heavily discounted titles in the same period, including the co-op game PEAK, the survival title Icarus, and Battlefield 6, which sold 706,000 copies at a 30% discount.
Broader Market Context and Developer Future
The success of Arc Raiders continued its strong performance since an October launch, with Alinea Analytics reporting it has now sold over 12 million copies across all platforms, including 7 million on Steam alone.
For Quantic Dream, the developer behind Detroit: Become Human, the sales surge is a notable event as the studio has not released a new game since 2018. The French developer is, however, actively working on several projects. These include Star Wars Eclipse, believed to be an adventure game in a similar style, and Spellcasters Chronicles, a free-to-play shooter that recently held a closed beta.
This festive season phenomenon demonstrates the powerful and sometimes unpredictable effect of deep discounts on older, well-regarded titles in the digital marketplace, capable of propelling them back into the spotlight years after their initial release.
