A 7-Year-Old Indie Hit Has More Players Than Ever

The indie game sphere has been in an interesting space in recent years. With the barriers for development and release lower compared to previous years, there are hundreds of new games dropping all the time. It can be hard to turn one of those into a hit thanks to the sheer scale of the competition, but success can be a sudden boon for smaller titles, especially on platforms like Steam.

Even this year alone, indie titles like Blue Prince came out of nowhere to become critical darlings and bestsellers. One of the season’s most surprising successes, however, is actually a game that’s been technically out for the better part of a decade. Thanks to a well-timed discount and consistently strong gameplay, it seems that a great Steam sale amid the holiday season has helped bring more players to the indie game than ever before.

Slay The Spire Has Hit A New Player High

The deck-building/rougelike indie game Slay the Spire was already a hit, but it just gained its largest ever single-day player count over seven years after it was first made available. Slay the Spire was a great success when it launched in early access in 2018, racking up 33,000 concurrent players at its height. However, the game has found even greater results in the present day thanks to a new Steam sale that accentuated the strengths of the original release.

According to metrics from SteamDB, Slay the Spire had over 57,000 concurrent players on December 27. That’s a new high point for the title, surpassing the previous record of 33,000. Even though it has since gone down a bit at the time of writing, it’s still racking up an impressive number of concurrent players — with over 28,000 still playing the game. That’s all just through Steam, too, which doesn’t include players on other platforms or who are tackling the adventure through mobile gaming.

The likeliest explanation for this surge is the 2025 Steam Winter Sale, which dropped the game to a whopping $2.49. It seems that, as a result, plenty of gamers who missed out on the deck-building roguelike when it launched have taken the opportunity to jump into the adventure. Even players who didn’t get the game through the Steam sale might have been intrigued and picked it up for their phones, where the game is also available through platforms like the Google Play Store. On top of that, the game’s upcoming sequel could be driving renewed attention for the original, and fans won over by the tabletop board game adaptation might have also decided to give the video game a new try.

Slay The Spire Highlights One Of Steam’s Best Qualities

All in all, it’s been a major success for the title, made all the more impressive Steam has proven to be a great resource for indie gaming, and Slay the Spire is a perfect example. Slay the Spire‘s unique fusion of roguelike and deck-building was an intriguing mix that benefited from being featured on Steam. The title definitely benefited from getting to be shown off to players through the service who might have otherwise missed out on the memorable art design, clever deck-building mechanics, and addictive gameplay.

Even years after it debuted, getting highlighted through a new Steam sale gave it an entirely new player base to connect with. Even if players had already bought it, the reminder of the game in such a big light likely brought back players who had tried it out previously but got distracted by other titles. Slay the Spire may have even just benefited from other players talking it up because of the sale, renewing interest in the title.

Slay the Spire racking up more players than ever, seven years after it launched, is a good reminder of the large reach afforded to indie creators through Steam, and how easily the platform can help turn a smaller project into a massive hit. Although the sheer number of available games on Steam makes it hard to break out in a crowded field, Steam’s strength as a platform can ensure that even older indie titles can find audiences that compare with the strength of a modern major release. It’s one of Steam’s best contributions to the gaming ecosystem, and another reminder that indie gaming is in a great space even as the larger industry faces renewed challenges.