From a 2026 vantage point, Steam’s weekly Top Sellers chart from the spring of 2021 is a useful snapshot. The headline was simple: Outriders and It Takes Two had locked down the top two spots for the second week in a row. One was a loud, loot-driven shooter with a rough launch; the other was a co-op adventure that kept charming its way up the board. Together, they made the top of the chart look stable while the rest of the list shifted underneath them.
🎢 The Top Two
Outriders had a rocky start. Players ran into server issues, and in extreme cases an entire inventory wipe. People Can Fly addressed the server problems, but the inventory wipe was the kind of disaster that makes a player stare at the screen like a fisherman who just watched the net split open. Some players dropped off completely, which is understandable after 100-plus hours with a full inventory. Yet the game still held first place for the second week running, with about 100,000 daily concurrent Steam players. Outriders’ launch was a rickety rope bridge over a canyon: people kept crossing because the destination looked worth it, even as planks popped loose behind them.
It Takes Two stayed at number two, its third week on the list. The co-op game launched in late March and had been tremendously popular, with a consistent concurrent player count of around 20,000 daily. That is nowhere near Outriders’ scale, but it suggested a strong performance ahead. It Takes Two was like a two-seater bicycle with no brakes: both riders had to pedal, and the shared effort made the downhill rush feel earned. The game’s co-op mechanics and unusual story elements captivated players and kept it high on Steam charts. Developer Josef Fares was so confident that he said, “I can literally give 1,000 bucks to anyone who says, ‘Oh, I’m tired of this game now because it doesn’t surprise me.’ One thousand bucks! I guarantee. I’ll give it to everyone who gets tired.” That is the kind of boast that usually ages badly, but in that moment it matched the game’s momentum.
📉 The Rest of the Board
| Spot | Game | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outriders | Held No. 1 despite launch trouble |
| 2 | It Takes Two | Third week on the list, steady co-op demand |
| 3 | Forza Horizon 4 | Xbox Game Studios publisher sale |
| 4 | Sea of Thieves | Same publisher sale |
| 5 | Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition | Moved up one spot with a 40% discount |
| 6 | Halo: The Master Chief Collection | Xbox sale put it back in view |
| 7 | Valheim | Fell three spots, its lowest showing yet |
| 8 | Valve Index VR Kit | Dropped three spots |
| 10 | The Binding of Isaac: Repentance | Plunged from third to tenth |
Valheim falling three spots to number seven was the week’s clearest sign of movement. A publisher sale pushed three Xbox Game Studios games onto the list: Forza Horizon 4, Sea of Thieves, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection at third, fourth, and sixth. Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition moved up one spot to fifth, probably because of the continued 40 percent-off discount. Valve Index VR Kit dropped three spots to eighth, and The Binding of Isaac: Repentance plunged from third to tenth. The table looked less like a permanent hierarchy and more like a tide gauge: discounts and sales were pulling games up and down, while the top two simply had stronger currents behind them. With no major PC games scheduled for release, a top-table shake-up seemed unlikely.
🧠 What a 2026 Player Can Take From It
From a 2026 vantage point, the chart is a reminder that launch disasters are not always fatal. Outriders kept selling because the core loop appealed to players who could tolerate rough edges. It is also a reminder that co-op trust travels well. It Takes Two did not need a huge concurrent count to stay visible; it needed players to recommend it to a friend, then to a partner, then to a sibling. In 2026, that word-of-mouth logic still matters, even if the storefront is busier and the competition is louder.
The chart also shows how discounts can give older games a fresh push. Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition moved up on a sale, and the Xbox games benefited from a publisher promotion. That does not mean a discount can rescue every game, but it can make a familiar title visible again at the right moment. For players watching Steam in 2026, the useful move is to look past the headline and ask why a game is rising: launch demand, a sale, a co-op recommendation, or simply a quiet week on the release calendar.
The ordinary player should not read a single weekly chart as destiny. Steam’s list is a snapshot, not a prophecy. Outriders and It Takes Two had very different trajectories, yet both proved that attention can survive a bad first impression or a modest player count. For 2026 chart watchers, the lesson is simple: watch the games that keep showing up, not just the ones that shout loudest at launch.
Data referenced from GamesIndustry.biz helps frame this 2021 Steam snapshot as more than a popularity contest: when Outriders held the top spot through launch instability and It Takes Two stayed near the summit on steady co-op enthusiasm, the bigger story was how sales timing, platform strategy, and player retention all interacted in a relatively quiet release week.