A New Era For Multiplayer Shooters
The multiplayer shooter scene on PC is going through a major shift, and it was on full display over the Christmas period. Instead of sweaty, ultra competitive gunplay, more relaxed and approachable shooters are climbing to the top of the charts.
According to data from SteamDB, the week of December 23 to December 30 saw two surprisingly laid back shooters dominate paid sales on Steam. Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6 were the top sellers, with only the Steam Deck hardware sitting between them.
This lines up with a wider trend that PC players have been feeling for a while. Many are moving away from ultra serious ranked grinds and looking for games that still feel intense and exciting, but do not demand esports level focus every night.
Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6 Lead a Chill FPS Wave
Both Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6 live in traditionally hardcore corners of the shooter world. Yet each one has been deliberately built to be more welcoming than the games that came before them.
Arc Raiders steps into the extraction shooter space, a genre once known for brutal punishment, steep learning curves and serious min maxing. Instead of leaning into that hardcore identity, it aims to be a more relaxed and accessible take. Reviewers have even called it a less stressful extraction shooter, which is not something you heard often about this genre a few years ago.
Battlefield 6 takes a similar approach in the modern military space. Historically, large scale war shooters have tried to balance casual chaos with tight competition, often layering in ranked playlists and meta heavy loadout systems. Battlefield 6 strips some of that pressure away. There is no ranked mode at all, which dramatically lowers the stakes for people who just want to hop in, blow things up, and leave without worrying about their long term standing.
This does not mean these games are brainless or lack intensity. Gunfights can still be frantic and moment to moment action stays exciting. The difference is what happens around the edges. You are not punished as harshly for bad matches, you are not constantly climbing or falling on a visible ranked ladder, and the social expectation is more about fun sessions than peak performance.
For a huge chunk of PC players juggling work, school or family, that shift matters. It turns shooters back into games you can casually load up with friends without feeling like you are signing a contract for a two hour sweat fest.
What The Holiday Charts Say About PC Gaming
The SteamDB list does not just highlight Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6. It also shows how broad modern PC gaming has become, even within the top sellers.
Alongside the new chill shooters, the holiday charts also feature:
- Clair Obscur, a heavily awarded title that has clearly found a strong audience
- Baldur's Gate 3, still riding high thanks to its deep role playing and strong word of mouth
- Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, named PC Gamer's game of the year and appealing to players who enjoy grounded, historically inspired RPGs
- Perennial giants like Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced and the latest EA Sports FC, which seem to live on the charts permanently
SteamDB also publishes an extended top 100, and when you look deeper into that list you see just how varied PC gaming tastes are. There is the indie co op success RV There Yet, which proves that smaller, quirky games can hang with triple A titles. There are two Assassin's Creed games sitting next to each other, showing that long running franchises still have plenty of pull.
One of the more surprising entries is Avatar Frontiers of Pandora landing at number 19, ahead of giants like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Elden Ring Nightreign. The Avatar films continue to generate massive box office numbers whenever a new installment appears, and that brand power clearly helps push the game higher on the PC charts as well.
For PC gamers, these charts are not just trivia. They are a snapshot of what kind of experiences people are actually spending money on.
What This Means For PC Players
If you are into PC gaming, especially shooters, this tilt toward more relaxed experiences has some interesting implications.
First, it lowers the barrier to entry. You do not need to dedicate yourself to ranked ladders or intense practice just to feel like you belong. You can still enjoy solid gunplay, modern visuals and team based tactics, but on your own terms and schedule.
Second, it should encourage more experimentation. When studios see that players are responding well to games like Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6, they are more likely to greenlight projects that try new spins on traditional genres instead of simply making everything more competitive and punishing.
Third, it helps keep PC gaming socially healthy. Games that welcome both hardcore and casual players create better spaces for groups of friends with different skill levels. You can squad up without worrying that one person being less experienced will ruin the night for everyone else.
Looking ahead, lists like SteamDB's top sellers, upcoming PC release roundups and curated guides such as best FPS games, best co op games and best RPGs, will remain useful tools for navigating an increasingly crowded library. For hardware focused players, these trends also shape what kind of rigs people build. If the most popular titles are big cinematic shooters and massive RPGs, demand stays high for strong GPUs and CPUs that can handle large scale battles, detailed worlds and smooth online play.
The key takeaway is simple. Competitive does not have to mean stressful. The success of Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6 over the holidays shows that PC gamers are more than ready for shooters that mix intensity with a laid back vibe. If you have been away from online shooters because they felt too sweaty, the current wave of games might be exactly what brings you back.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/arc-raiders-was-steams-best-selling-game-the-week-of-christmas-and-battlefield-6-wasnt-far-behind/
