PC Gamer Writers Averaged 72 Games, 56% New, in 2025
▼ Summary
– The average PC Gamer staff member played 72 games in 2025, with a high of 134 and a low of 28 titles per person.
– The staff’s combined gaming statistics far exceeded Steam’s median user, playing more games and unlocking many more achievements.
– On average, 56% of the games played by PC Gamer writers were new 2025 releases, with this percentage being higher for those who played fewer total games.
– The staff used a controller for 41% of their gameplay, a high proportion attributed to certain game genres and the popularity of the Steam Deck.
– The median daily streak for consecutive days of gameplay was 36 days for PC Gamer staff, significantly longer than the Steam user median of 6 days.
Ever wonder what the gaming habits of professional critics look like when you combine them into one collective entity? The recent release of Steam’s annual replay feature offered a perfect opportunity to find out. By gathering data from a representative sample of the PC Gamer team, we can paint a fascinating picture of how industry insiders spend their time with digital entertainment. The results reveal a group that plays far more, and far more new releases, than the typical Steam user, though with a few surprising caveats about their preferred control methods.
Instead of conducting a bizarre laboratory experiment, we simply asked a group of 19 staff members to share their personal Steam Replay statistics for the past year. This method isn’t perfect, some gaming happens on other platforms like Epic or GOG, but it provides a compelling snapshot. The most striking figure is the average number of games played: a whopping 72 titles per writer. This average, however, hides a huge range. The team’s most prolific player launched an incredible 134 different games, while the least active still managed a respectable 28.
It’s crucial to note that Steam’s count doesn’t consider playtime. Someone might boot a game once, decide it’s not for them, and it still tallies as “played.” This means a lower count could simply indicate deeper engagement with fewer titles. Regardless, the cumulative total for our group was 1,235 unique game sessions. Achievements were also collected in bulk, with an average of 558 per person and a grand total nearing 9,500 unlocks.
A key metric for any games journalist is how much of their playtime is devoted to new releases. On average, 56% of the games played by PC Gamer writers were released in the same year. Interestingly, there was a clear trend: those who played the highest volume of games overall tended to have a lower percentage of new releases in their mix. When filtering out anyone who played over 100 titles, the average for new games actually rose by four percent.
Perhaps the most surprising, and for some, scandalous, data point concerns input devices. One might assume a publication named PC Gamer would be a bastion of keyboard and mouse purity. The reality is more balanced. On average, the team used a keyboard and mouse for only 59% of their playtime, with controllers claiming the remaining 41%. Several factors explain this. Major 2025 releases like Nightreign are famously better with a gamepad, and the ubiquitous Steam Deck has made controller gaming on PC more common than ever.
The team’s commitment also shows up in what Steam calls a “daily streak,” the longest stretch of consecutive days with at least one game played. For a PC Gamer writer, the median streak reached 36 days. Across Steam as a whole, that figure drops to just six. The gap widens further when looking at breadth of play. The median Steam user logged time in four games, compared with 69 for our writers. Put side by side, those medians draw a clear line between professional coverage and casual play.
Taken together, the numbers paint a consistent picture. Writing about games for a living produces habits that look nothing like leisure gaming. The team cycles through far more titles, keeps pace with new releases, and maintains an intensity of engagement that borders on relentless. Even the much-debated controller usage fits neatly into this pattern. It is less a betrayal of PC tradition and more a sign of how platform boundaries have softened, even for those rooted in PC culture.
If anything, the data highlights how wide the modern gaming field has become. Moving between genres, control schemes, and platforms is no longer optional when coverage demands familiarity with everything from indie experiments to blockbuster releases. That reality explains the habits far better than any single preference ever could. With luck, 2026 will deliver a wave of deeply strategic mouse-and-keyboard titles, giving PC loyalists a fresh chance to reclaim a small but symbolic point of pride.
(Source: PC GAMER)
