Endless Space was released 12 years ago on Steam, but suddenly it has more players than ever before. MeinMMO reveals what is behind it.
What kind of game is this? Endless Space is a 4X strategy game where players can choose from one of 8 galaxies and seize control of the galaxy. It was released on July 4, 2012, and received a “mostly positive” rating on Steam.
However, the player numbers remained rather moderate, with only a few peaks, mostly ranging from a few hundred to about 2,000 players. On the morning of Tuesday, January 23, 2024, German time, there were only 48 people in the game. By night, the number skyrocketed to 41,263 concurrent players, the highest value that Endless Space has ever reached (via SteamDB).
Both Endless Space and Endless Legend are developed by Amplitude Studios, which is celebrating its 13th birthday this year.
More players through discounts than with free keys
What’s going on? Amplitude Studios, the developers of Endless Space, are celebrating their 13th birthday in 2024. For this occasion, many of the studio’s games are currently heavily discounted. This has already brought another Endless title to unprecedented heights in player numbers.
Endless Space is currently 80% off and costs only €1.99 instead of €9.99 on Steam. However, this offer is valid only until 7:00 PM on January 25, 2024.
Interestingly, the strategy game was already available for free in 2019. At that time, however, “only” 31,000 players were registered concurrently – 10,000 fewer than with the current discount. And it seems that the many new players are indeed enjoying the title, as even now there are still over 12,800 people in the game (as of 5:15 PM, via SteamDB).
Player numbers are also skyrocketing elsewhere. The success of the wacky survival game Palworld was hardly expected in this form. The title is unstoppable in climbing the Steam charts and has already left established titles like Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, and even free-to-play games like DOTA 2 behind. What records the game has already broken can be found here.
