Live Steam player count comparison, updated every 10 minutes. Both are Simulation / Strategy games.
Hearts of Iron IV is currently the more played game: 50,985 concurrent players on Steam right now vs 27,546 for Crusader Kings III — about 1.9× more players. Across all tracked metrics, Hearts of Iron IV leads 7 of 10.
Coilr tracks charts like this for every game — and playtime history for your own library.
Tracked by Coilr since April 2026 · Steam polled every 10 minutes · methodology
Hearts of Iron IV has had the higher daily player count for the last 67 days — every day since Coilr began tracking both games.
Days tracked
67
Current streak
67 days
Hearts of Iron IV
Lead changes
0
Closest gap
45%
May 28, 2026
How this works: each game's daily average concurrent players (from Coilr's 10-minute Steam polls), compared on the 67 days where both games have data — whichever averages higher leads that day. methodology
| Metric | Crusader Kings III | Hearts of Iron IV |
|---|---|---|
| Players right now | 27,546 | 50,985 |
| 24-hour peak | 28,652 | 58,499 |
| 7-day average | 19,806 | 38,811 |
| 30-day average | 19,765 | 39,500 |
| 30-day trend | +17% | +1% |
| Peak (tracked) | 29,977 | 71,856 |
| Steam reviews | 90% positive | 90% positive |
| Recent reviews (3 mo) | 89% positive | 87% positive |
| Total reviews | 142,081 | 373,345 |
| Owners (SteamSpy est.) | ~2,000,000 | ~5,000,000 |
| Release date | Sep 1, 2020 | Jun 6, 2016 |
| Price | $49.99 | $49.99 |
Full stats: Crusader Kings III · Hearts of Iron IV · add more games to this comparison →
| Month | Crusader Kings III | Hearts of Iron IV | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg | Peak | Avg | Peak | |
| Apr 2026 | — | — | 23,165 | 31,767 |
| May 2026 | 18,238 | 25,816 | 33,728 | 60,597 |
| Jun 2026 | 16,745 | 27,303 | 38,494 | 71,856 |
| Jul 2026 | 19,491 | 29,977 | 39,158 | 62,926 |
| Aug 2026 (so far) | 21,391 | 28,652 | 42,043 | 58,499 |
Monthly average and peak concurrent players on Steam, from Coilr's own tracking (10-minute polls, hourly beyond 30 days).
Hearts of Iron IV currently has more players: 50,985 concurrent players on Steam vs 27,546 for Crusader Kings III — about 1.9× more players.
Over the last 30 days Crusader Kings III averaged 19,765 concurrent players and Hearts of Iron IV averaged 39,500. By that measure Hearts of Iron IV is currently the bigger game.
Not in Coilr's head-to-head tracking: Hearts of Iron IV has had the higher daily average concurrent player count on Steam on every one of the 67 days both games have been tracked.
By Steam review score, Crusader Kings III rates higher: 90% positive across 142,081 reviews vs 90% across 373,345 for Hearts of Iron IV. Hearts of Iron IV has the larger player base right now (50,985 vs 27,546 concurrent). Player counts, ratings, price and trend are compared side by side above.
Crusader Kings III averaged 19,765 concurrent players over the last 30 days, up 17% vs the previous 30 days. Its highest tracked player count is 29,977.
Hearts of Iron IV averaged 39,500 concurrent players over the last 30 days, roughly flat vs the previous 30 days. Its highest tracked player count is 71,856.