Valheim Just Hit Its Second-Highest Player Count

The hype surrounding Valheim 1.0 and the long-awaited Deep North update shows no signs of slowing down. Vikings from across the world continue to return to the 10th Realm, and this weekend saw the game’s player count explode once again.

In fact, Valheim just recorded its second-biggest player spike in the game’s history, proving that even after years of waiting, the Viking survival adventure still has plenty of life left in it.

300K Vikings

This weekend was massive for Valheim. The game reached a staggering 308,477 concurrent players on Steam, according to SteamDB, marking the second-highest player count Valheim has ever recorded.

That’s an incredible milestone for a game that originally launched in early access back in 2021. The arrival of the Deep North and the long-awaited 1.0 release has clearly given both longtime Vikings and newcomers a reason to return to the 10th Realm.

What’s even more impressive is that Valheim reached this milestone during the chaotic BlizzCon 2026 weekend. With Blizzard’s massive event dominating the gaming news cycle, Valheim still managed to pull hundreds of thousands of players back into its world.

Now, one major question remains: Can Valheim finally surpass its original player count record?

Valheim’s all-time Steam peak was set more than five years ago during the 2021 lockdown, when the game exploded in popularity. That record has remained untouched ever since, but the launch of Deep North and the1.0 update have brought the game closer than ever. Only time will tell whether the 1.0 update has enough power to break that record.