A co-op zombie shooter on Steam experienced a massive increase in player numbers of a total of 34,000%. The reason for this is probably a “Free-to-Keep” promotion.
Which game is it? This is the game Ultimate Zombie Defense
. The game is a top-down, co-op survival horror game set in the suburbs of a once peaceful town in continental Europe. Players take on the role of elite military personnel stationed in a quarantined city to find and destroy the source of a zombie infection.
You can watch the game’s trailer here:
From 32 to over 11,000 players in one weekend
How did the player surge happen? The co-op zombie shooter may have passed under the radar for some players. Especially through a free “Free-to-Keep” offer on Steam, this could have led to the enormous increase in players. Within one weekend, the player count rose from 32 to 11,859.
Ultimate Zombie Defense was released on December 8, 2020, and since then apparently struggled to gain much attention. In January 2021, the game peaked at 1,111 players and often remained under a hundred in the following months (via Steamdb).
The “Free-to-Keep” promotion on Steam coincided with the announcement of an upcoming sequel, Ultimate Zombie Defense 2, for which no release date has yet been specified other than “Coming Soon”. Given the attention the first game has received in recent days, it can be said that the “Free-to-Keep” promotion was a clever move.
How does the community feel about the game? The reviews on Steam have been very positive for both recent reviews and “all reviews”. Some users have commented as follows:
- TorkSlanter writes:
It is a simple game, but I have enjoyed it so far.
- JoeDerGinger comments:
For €3.99, you get a fun zombie slasher defense game with 4 skillable classes that work across all servers. Whether with “randoms” or friends, the game is fun!
For a bit of variety, a game on Steam might also help, where you can kick monsters in the face in singleplayer:
Steam: A new shooter lets you kick monsters in the face – Looks like extreme good mood
