Steam Next Fest October 2026 is over, and the numbers are in. Output Lag tracked the number of people playing each of the 7,310 demos every hour for the whole week, using Steam’s public player count data, and ranked them by their peak.
The 10 most played demos by peak players
- Probably Stolen, a cyberpunk shopkeeper simulator by Questing Goose Studio: 39,696
- Worst Class Ever, a team-based social deduction game by Funcore Games: 27,684
- ArcheAge Chronicles, an open-world MMORPG by XLGAMES: 19,855
- just volleyball, by temkosoft: 9,598
- Frostrail, an open-world survival game by FakeFish: 8,834
- Loftia, a cosy life sim by Qloud Games: 7,427
- Abyssal Lapidary, by Light Worm: 4,766
- Fart Together, a physics party game by GamesMrkt: 4,405
- Among Shadows, by TMXN Games: 3,063
- BORE, a survival horror game by BavelGG: 2,923
Shops, parties and survival
Probably Stolen, which already led the chart on the first days of the fest, held on to first place. Party and social games did well: Worst Class Ever was the most played co-op demo, and Fart Together and Among Shadows also made the top 10.
How to read it
The ranking counts people inside a demo at a given moment, not wishlists or sales, so it favours games that are easy to jump into with friends. Idle games and desktop companions, which count players while running in the background, were left out.
Earlier in the fest: the most played demos on day one and how Next Fest works.
This article was written with AI assistance from the sources linked above.
