It has been nearly three years—33 months, to be actual—because the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3, and in that point, we couldn’t cease enjoying it on Steam Deck. It has solely fallen out of the platform’s high 5 most-played listing in 4 of these 33 months. Even then, Larian’s masterpiece has by no means left the highest ten.
Valve retains a working listing of the most-played games on Steam Deck that is out there to the general public, and you may type by weekly, month-to-month, and yearly winners, with the listing updating every week/month/12 months. After seeing Gaming on Linux‘s protection of April 2026’s most-played, I made a decision to return into the archives, with occasional gaps crammed by Steam Deck HQ and Steam Deck Gaming on YouTube.
There’s a variety of takeaways available from the info—I’ve bought to mud off my gunbelt and spurs and put these things into an Excel spreadsheet or Gdocs equal—however one thing that actually shocked me is how doggedly Baldur’s Gate 3 has stayed close to the highest. Some stats that wowed me:
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- BG3 held the primary most-played spot for six straight months after launch, a report solely surpassed by Balatro at 7 months—a minimum of going again to August, 2023. I’d prefer to see how Vampire Survivors did in 2022. The runner-up? Stardew Valley with 4 nonconsecutive months at #1.
- BG3 stayed within the high 5 for precisely two years straight after launch, solely dipping to quantity six for the primary time final August.
- The lowest BG3 dropped was quantity eight final October, but it surely’s had a rebound, staying within the high 5 most-played video games up to now this 12 months.
This all fascinates me, as a result of Deck has by no means actually been one of the best ways to play Baldur’s Gate 3: It’s not on our best Steam Deck Games list, and it tends to punish the handheld’s poor little APU while sucking up every last drop of battery. I remember getting around 20-30fps on Deck around launch, a compromise I lived with because I was traveling for work at the time.
But BG3 controls well on a gamepad, and I’ve yet to see how its native Linux port improved things. Being a turn-based game as well, poor framerate isn’t as detrimental to the experience as it would be in a fast-paced action game.
It speaks to the all-encompassing popularity of Baldur’s Gate 3 that people just gotta have it, even on the go, and nearly three years on. I’ve arranged links to the most-played games by month lists since BG3’s release below, with Baldur’s Gate 3’s placement highlighted. Valve doesn’t make historical data like this readily available, so I relied on Gaming on Linux, Steam Deck HQ, and Steam Deck Gaming.
2023 (Overall: unordered high 12)
2026 (Avg. #4 up to now [surprise])