March 5th was a surprisingly massive day for new game releases. We got Pokemon Pokopia, Marathon, and the early access drop of Slay the Spire 2. All of these games were pretty highly anticipated by their target audiences, but Slay the Spire 2 got a bit lost in the pre-release hype shuffle. After all, not everyone is down for Early Access, and it was a pretty packed day for big games. But from the looks of concurrent player counts on Steam, Slay the Spire 2 is doing quite well, thank you very much.
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With all the pre-release hype for Marathon, it’s not a surprise that Steam was barely hanging on when the game first dropped. With the general popularity of shooters like Counter-Strike 2 and PUBG: Battlegrounds, which have long held the top slot for most-played games on Steam, I expected to check SteamDB this morning to find Marathon sitting up near the top. But in fact, Slay the Spire 2 has left it, and most of the other Top 10 most-played games on the platform, thoroughly in the dust.
Slay the Spire 2 Hits 4th Most-Played Game on Steam Less Than 24 Hours After Early Access Launch
Personally, I love a good SteamDB check-in. But in my experience, the overall Most-Played list tends to be relatively stagnant over time. Certain games tend to stick at the top, making the Top 5 more or less the same over time. Occasionally, new games like Resident Evil Requiem will break in for a day or two, but cracking the top slots isn’t easy. I tend to gravitate towards the “trending” section of the charts instead for that reason, because you can see what newer games are on the rise. But as soon as I saw the concurrent player numbers for Slay the Spire 2, I knew it’d be cracking the Top 5 Most Played.
At launch, both Marathon and Slay the Spire 2 got off to a strong start. So strong, in fact, that many users reported issues with Steam in the hour or so after that double drop. But since then, the trajectory for these new PC releases has been quite different.
Marathon hit a peak of 888,337, after which time it saw a bit of a dropoff. That’s not to say people are hating the extraction shooter. It has a Very Positive review rating on Steam, which isn’t bad for a newly released game. But there’s something to be said for the saturated market, as other games like ARC Raiders are still doing numbers on Steam. Of course, there’s also the fact that Steam charts can’t tell the full story of a multi-platform launch like Marathon. The game is also available on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, so its true player count could well be quite a bit higher. Even so, it’s kind of amazing to see an indie game like Slay the Spire 2 dominate the charts when it released in Early Access, into such a packed day of new games.
Slay the Spire remains an incredibly popular and beloved game. But deckbuilding roguelites are a much more niche genre than the likes of extraction shooters. This, along with its Early Access status, makes those concurrent player numbers for Slay the Spire 2 all the more impressive. At the time I’m writing this, Slay the Spire 2 sits at the 4th slot for Most-Played games on Steam over the last 24 hours, according to Steam DB. It has surpassed the likes of Apex Legends, Rust, and even adorable idler Bongo Cat. And it’s not slowing down. The game reached its highest all-time peak just 3 minutes ago as I type this, with a whopping 416,612 players and counting.
Even more impressive is that Slay the Spire 2 boasts an Overwhelmingly Positive rating, even with that many people giving it a go in Early Access. Clearly, this game is delivering what fans wanted to see in a sequel to Slay the Spire and then some. It’s got a ways to go before toppling longtime Steam chart-toppers like PUBG: Battlegrounds and Dota 2. But at this rate, I think there’s a fighting chance.
Are you more excited for Marathon or Slay the Spire 2? Or are you deep into Pokopia like I am? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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