Skyrim is the fastest-selling Steam game ever, 10 million retail copies shipped

Song of the Dragonborn! Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has won an achievement for “fastest selling title in Steam’s history,” according to Valve’s Jason Holtman. Valve doesn’t publish its digital sales numbers, but Wednesday’s player count peaked at 287,411 simultaneous users, while second place Football Manager 2012 came in at a wimpy 62,866. Of course, those player count figures are probably boosted by the fact that Skyrim is a Steamworks game, meaning even retail copies must be activated through Valve’s gaming network.

The developer also says it’s shipped (not sold) 10 million retail copies of Skyrim. NPD reports that 2.8 million units were sold in November, so most of the remainder is probably going toward stocking up inventories for the holidays. With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 reaching $1 billion in sales in just 16 days, it looks like the games industry is doing well this holiday season. Although the numbers are impressive, we’re still not sure it’s safe to publicly admit how many hours you play RPGs just yet.