Chinese Becomes Most Popular Language on Steam, Surpassing English

Mandarin has now become the top language on Steam, knocking English off its long-held perch.

Fresh statistics from Steam’s GDC 2025 presentation (reported by Game Discover) reveal that 33.7% of gamers now choose Simplified Chinese (Mandarin) as their primary language, narrowly surpassing English at 33.5%. In fact, more than two-thirds of Steam users now prefer a language other than English. For reference, Steam currently supports 29 languages.

The rise in Mandarin-speaking users largely stems from China’s booming domestic game market. Games like Black Myth: Wukong have energized PC and console gaming throughout the country. One developer at the event noted this shift has been anticipated for years, stating, “we’ve wanted to make these kinds of games from the beginning.”

Beyond this single title, games developed by Chinese companies–Genshin Impact, Infinity Nikki, Honkai: Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero have achieved tremendous global success. While many of these games initially focused on mobile and PC platforms, Black Myth: Wukong’s popularity highlights the significant potential for Chinese-developed console games as well.

Meanwhile, Chinese gaming giant Tencent continues to expand its influence, acquiring stakes in numerous game studios worldwide, further cementing China’s dominance in the industry.

While China represents the largest concentration of Mandarin speakers, the language is widely used throughout Asia. Mandarin is spoken in Taiwan (alongside other languages including Cantonese), and maintains significant speaker populations in Singapore, Malaysia, and other Asian nations.

This language shift on Steam was also highlighted earlier this year by Will McCahill, head of Microsoft’s World’s Edge studio (developers of Age of Empires). According to his research, Black Myth: Wukong has had a major impact on Steam reviews in Simplified Chinese. Since its release, the game has significantly increased positive review rates. If you took Wukong out of the equation, positive reviews from Chinese players would tumble from 80% down to 74%.

McCahill’s data further revealed intriguing patterns in Steam’s review culture. Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Vietnamese, and Indonesian players tend to leave the most positive reviews, while Japanese, Chinese, and Korean gamers are typically more critical. That makes Black Myth: Wukong’s success all the more impressive; it’s not just popular in China, it’s actually managed to significantly boost the overall positivity rate among a notoriously hard-to-please audience.

Valve’s latest Steam Hardware and Software Survey further confirms this trend. The data shows a 20.88% increase in Simplified Chinese-speaking users in February 2025, accounting for half of Steam’s total user base. As reported by Automaton, February often sees an uptick in Chinese users due to the Chinese New Year holiday. However, this year’s increase was far larger than usual—2024 saw a more modest rise of 7.26%.

Key contributing factors include the release of Mecha Break, a multiplayer mech shooter from Amazing Seasun Games, as well as NetEase’s Marvel Rivals. Additionally, Monster Hunter Wilds, which launched at the end of February, further fueled the surge in Chinese Steam users.

With China’s gaming industry continuing to expand, Mandarin’s dominance on Steam may only grow further in the coming years.