The Game Census
Half-Life 2 cover art

Half-Life 2

Valve · 2004-11-16

Steam

Action

Franchise: Half-Life · Modes: Single player · Perspectives: First person

Releases: May 12, 2014 (Android), Oct 10, 2007 (Xbox 360), Dec 14, 2007 (PlayStation 3), Nov 16, 2004 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), May 09, 2013 (Linux), May 26, 2010 (Mac)

Reawakened from stasis in the occupied metropolis of City 17, Gordon Freeman is joined by Alyx Vance as he leads a desperate human resistance. Experience the landmark first-person shooter packed with immersive world-building, boundary-pushing physics, and exhilarating combat.

Half-Life 2 is an Action game released in 2004, priced at $9.99, with an estimated 10,000,000 .. 20,000,000 owners and an Overwhelmingly Positive review sentiment (98% of 279275 reviews).

1,165
playing now
98%
positive of 281k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
steam's rating (official)
10,000,000–20,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
46
twitch viewers (latest)
5.1
viewers/channel (concentration)
79/100
critic score (7 outlets, IGDB)
90/100
IGDB user rating (3428 ratings)
95
Nexus mods (116k downloads)
14h
to beat · rushed 8.8h · completionist 20h
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Verified
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$9.99
steam price (US)

1,165 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 10:00 UTC (census sample)

Half-Life 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 is played from a first-person perspective, combining combat, puzzles, and storytelling. It adds features such as vehicles and physics-based gameplay. The player controls Gordon Freeman, who joins a resistance effort to liberate Earth from the alien Combine empire.

Trailer

Half-Life 2 trailer thumbnail

Half-Life 2 Trailer - May 2004

≈1,000,000 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 1,165 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 13,423 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~1,678/week).
  • · Review velocity down 14% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 1% of 27,533 Action games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-29

Estimated sales: 11M–22M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 280,957 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Steam$1.99-80%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $0.99 at Steam (2017-06-23)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $9.99 · on sale 11 of 15 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
9.5k9.5k20182026Week of 2018-03-01: 676 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 495 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 489 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 685 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 860 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 476 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 366 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 329 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 2,021 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 696 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 697 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 557 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 446 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 341 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 395 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 1,896 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 2,179 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 399 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 362 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 549 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 3,398 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 38 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 3,104 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 2,283 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 1,192 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 2,186 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 2,750 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 1,565 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 33 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 1,612 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 35 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 2,466 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 1,334 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 1,045 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 1,146 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 2,652 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 33 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 2,480 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 60 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 2,551 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 64 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 1,618 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 36 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 1,560 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 1,400 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 1,390 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 38 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 1,642 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 2,507 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 75 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 1,860 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 43 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 1,169 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 1,175 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 34 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 2,047 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 2,134 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 47 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 2,321 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 1,863 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 1,417 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 1,200 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 1,059 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 1,368 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 2,154 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 44 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 1,543 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 51 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 1,152 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 1,129 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 2,475 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 2,752 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 63 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 2,754 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 66 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 1,495 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 2,194 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 53 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 1,687 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 1,311 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 1,393 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 3,160 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 70 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 1,770 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 2,492 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 59 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 1,703 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 55 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 4,032 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 91 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 3,333 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 79 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 2,942 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 78 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 1,725 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 2,587 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 56 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 1,836 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 50 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 1,473 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 50 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 1,872 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 110 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 2,937 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 78 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 2,100 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 65 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 1,332 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 1,268 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 9,544 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 255 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 4,024 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 104 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 2,542 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 60 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 1,633 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 60 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 1,979 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 1,396 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 44 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 1,454 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 51 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 1,591 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 1,999 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 48 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 1,466 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 1,124 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 1,535 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 2,393 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 70 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 2,581 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 86 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 2,560 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 58 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 1,646 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 53 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 1,837 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 49 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 1,668 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 48 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 1,481 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 1,468 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 51 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 2,164 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 65 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 1,515 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 56 negativeWeek of 2026-09-01: 1,237 positiveWeek of 2026-09-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2026-10-01: 630 positiveWeek of 2026-10-01: 12 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

2.5k7632026-09-14 19:00 — 1,725 players2026-09-16 04:00 — 804 players2026-09-17 11:00 — 1,152 players2026-09-18 19:00 — 1,853 players2026-09-20 02:00 — 1,191 players2026-09-21 10:00 — 1,027 players2026-09-22 17:00 — 1,744 players2026-09-24 01:00 — 1,035 players2026-09-25 08:00 — 963 players2026-09-26 16:00 — 2,023 players2026-09-27 23:00 — 1,261 players2026-09-29 07:00 — 763 players2026-09-30 14:00 — 1,421 players2026-10-01 22:00 — 1,159 players2026-10-03 05:00 — 1,213 players2026-10-04 14:00 — 2,549 players2026-10-05 21:00 — 1,602 players2026-10-07 05:00 — 1,008 players2026-10-08 12:00 — 1,618 players2026-10-09 20:00 — 2,176 players2026-10-11 03:00 — 1,399 players2026-10-12 11:00 — 1,263 players2026-10-13 18:00 — 2,041 players2026-10-14 10:00 — 1,165 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
12k501Jul 2012Aug 2026Jul 2012 — avg 1,145 · peak 1,895Dec 2012 — avg 837 · peak 1,799May 2013 — avg 777 · peak 1,761Oct 2013 — avg 1,002 · peak 3,606Mar 2014 — avg 704 · peak 1,458Aug 2014 — avg 792 · peak 1,364Jan 2015 — avg 1,025 · peak 2,415Jun 2015 — avg 1,006 · peak 2,221Nov 2015 — avg 860 · peak 2,209Apr 2016 — avg 594 · peak 1,155Sep 2016 — avg 556 · peak 1,041Feb 2017 — avg 703 · peak 1,316Jul 2017 — avg 1,270 · peak 3,214Dec 2017 — avg 1,278 · peak 3,589May 2018 — avg 594 · peak 1,175Oct 2018 — avg 550 · peak 1,091Mar 2019 — avg 603 · peak 1,129Aug 2019 — avg 611 · peak 1,057Jan 2020 — avg 1,760 · peak 6,216Jun 2020 — avg 773 · peak 1,603Nov 2020 — avg 901 · peak 1,961Apr 2021 — avg 696 · peak 1,194Sep 2021 — avg 624 · peak 1,060Feb 2022 — avg 897 · peak 1,671Jul 2022 — avg 889 · peak 1,562Dec 2022 — avg 1,133 · peak 2,343May 2023 — avg 658 · peak 1,164Oct 2023 — avg 760 · peak 1,470Mar 2024 — avg 1,075 · peak 2,397Aug 2024 — avg 922 · peak 1,507Jan 2025 — avg 3,509 · peak 7,071Jun 2025 — avg 1,757 · peak 2,870Nov 2025 — avg 2,011 · peak 4,200Apr 2026 — avg 1,481 · peak 2,675Aug 2026 — avg 1,475 · peak 2,418
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Chart history

PositiveNegative
1071072026-09-222026-10-132026-09-22: 35 new positive2026-09-22: 2 new negative2026-09-26: 31 new positive2026-09-26: 2 new negative2026-09-27: 41 new positive2026-09-27: 1 new negative2026-09-28: 75 new positive2026-09-28: 2 new negative2026-09-29: 32 new positive2026-09-29: 3 new negative2026-09-30: 28 new positive2026-09-30: 3 new negative2026-10-04: 99 new positive2026-10-05: 68 new positive2026-10-06: 67 new positive2026-10-06: 3 new negative2026-10-07: 54 new positive2026-10-07: 2 new negative2026-10-09: 71 new positive2026-10-09: 1 new negative2026-10-11: 75 new positive2026-10-11: 5 new negative2026-10-12: 90 new positive2026-10-12: 4 new negative2026-10-13: 107 new positive2026-10-13: 5 new negative
New Steam reviews per day (census review snapshots). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$9.99$0.002015-01-012026-10-082015-01-01 — best price $4.992015-06-04 — best price $2.502015-07-11 — best price $2.492015-08-31 — best price $4.992015-11-25 — best price $2.492015-12-22 — best price $2.492016-03-22 — best price $3.392016-06-23 — best price $1.992016-10-18 — best price $7.992016-12-22 — best price $1.992017-11-22 — best price $0.992018-02-15 — best price $0.992018-11-21 — best price $1.992019-02-04 — best price $1.992019-10-28 — best price $0.992019-12-19 — best price $0.992020-10-29 — best price $1.992020-12-22 — best price $1.992021-11-24 — best price $1.992022-01-27 — best price $1.992022-11-22 — best price $0.992023-03-16 — best price $0.992023-09-12 — best price $0.992023-12-21 — best price $0.992024-06-27 — best price $0.992024-11-27 — best price $1.992025-03-13 — best price $1.992025-09-29 — best price $1.992025-12-18 — best price $1.992026-06-25 — best price $1.992026-10-04 — best price $1.992026-10-08 — best price $1.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

1.3k6992026-06-02 — 916 pageviews2026-06-06 — 851 pageviews2026-06-10 — 797 pageviews2026-06-14 — 789 pageviews2026-06-18 — 776 pageviews2026-06-22 — 917 pageviews2026-06-26 — 1,038 pageviews2026-06-30 — 924 pageviews2026-07-04 — 828 pageviews2026-07-08 — 953 pageviews2026-07-12 — 881 pageviews2026-07-16 — 779 pageviews2026-07-20 — 903 pageviews2026-07-24 — 736 pageviews2026-07-28 — 801 pageviews2026-08-01 — 727 pageviews2026-08-05 — 773 pageviews2026-08-09 — 868 pageviews2026-08-13 — 736 pageviews2026-08-17 — 747 pageviews2026-08-21 — 1,033 pageviews2026-08-25 — 1,273 pageviews2026-08-29 — 874 pageviews2026-09-02 — 882 pageviews2026-09-06 — 1,013 pageviews2026-09-10 — 816 pageviews2026-09-14 — 958 pageviews2026-09-18 — 736 pageviews2026-09-22 — 766 pageviews2026-09-26 — 791 pageviews2026-09-30 — 745 pageviews2026-10-04 — 725 pageviews2026-10-08 — 799 pageviews2026-10-11 — 811 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

52502026-09-30 18:34 — 111 viewers2026-10-01 03:34 — 7 viewers2026-10-01 12:34 — 138 viewers2026-10-01 21:34 — 34 viewers2026-10-02 06:34 — 16 viewers2026-10-02 15:34 — 148 viewers2026-10-03 00:34 — 37 viewers2026-10-03 09:34 — 1 viewers2026-10-03 18:34 — 42 viewers2026-10-04 03:34 — 182 viewers2026-10-04 12:34 — 19 viewers2026-10-04 21:34 — 56 viewers2026-10-05 06:34 — 7 viewers2026-10-05 15:34 — 20 viewers2026-10-06 00:34 — 17 viewers2026-10-06 09:34 — 4 viewers2026-10-06 18:34 — 112 viewers2026-10-07 03:34 — 135 viewers2026-10-07 12:34 — 10 viewers2026-10-07 21:34 — 11 viewers2026-10-08 06:34 — 16 viewers2026-10-08 15:34 — 38 viewers2026-10-09 00:34 — 26 viewers2026-10-09 09:34 — 13 viewers2026-10-09 18:34 — 80 viewers2026-10-10 03:34 — 47 viewers2026-10-10 12:34 — 15 viewers2026-10-10 21:34 — 25 viewers2026-10-11 06:34 — 25 viewers2026-10-11 15:34 — 50 viewers2026-10-12 00:34 — 10 viewers2026-10-12 09:34 — 51 viewers2026-10-12 18:34 — 254 viewers2026-10-13 03:34 — 46 viewers2026-10-13 12:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-13 21:34 — 14 viewers2026-10-14 06:34 — 1 viewers2026-10-14 15:34 — 32 viewers2026-10-14 17:34 — 46 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Completion

60+
achievements tracked
70.6%
earned "Malcontent"
7.5%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsLinuxFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportSteam Trading CardsCaptions availableSteam WorkshopCamera ComfortCustom Volume ControlsAdjustable DifficultyPlayable without Timed Input1 DLC

26 supported languages: English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Spanish - Spain, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Dutch, Danish, Finnish…

Post-launch support: 1 DLC released, first 2014-09-24 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)178,7003%69

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

FPSActionAliensSci-fiClassicPhysicsShooterZombiesAdventureDystopian

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

Half-LifeGET EVENImmortal: UnchainedZombotronDOOM EternalWolfenstein: YoungbloodCyberpunk 2077

Similarity via IGDB.

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