The role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3 is a hit on Steam, with player numbers at a level no one expected. Not even the developers themselves. They expected a maximum of 100,000 players, but peaked at 707,000 on Saturday, August 5th – and the numbers are likely still rising. The Steam reviews are exceptionally good.
How popular is Baldur’s Gate 3 at release on Steam?
- At its peak on Saturday night after release, the role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3 had 709,835 players on Steam according to Steamcharts. Thus, it is currently the second largest game on Steam, after CS:GO. SteamDB reports even 712,281 players.
- Historically, it has already entered the Top 10 of all time with its peak of “simultaneously active players on Steam”: Baldur’s Gate 3 has pushed Apex Legends out of the Top 10 and ranks 9th behind “Goose Goose Duck“ (via PC Gamer).
- Experts expect that the numbers will rise again next weekend, once word spreads about how great the game is. This “word-of-mouth” effect was also observed with Elden Ring in spring 2022.
“I should probably stay away from the IT team, I told them: maximum 100,000”
How do the developers react? They are surprised by the success. Game Director Swen Vincke wrote on Twitter: “I should probably stay away from the IT team – I told them to expect a maximum of 100,000 players”.
The servers are probably burning, and the schedules are getting mixed up. Colleagues are also congratulating for the absurdly good start.
An initial hotfix for Baldur’s Gate is already live on the servers.
Could one expect such success? Not really. Although it was thought that after the “bear” hype, Baldur’s Gate 3 would be bigger than expected, it was not thought to be this big.
Since the game has been in early access on Steam since 2020, it has been around for years with about 2,000 average players without any major outliers. It did go up to just over 10,000 players at its peak in October 2021 and December 2022, but never more (via steamcharts).
The scale of the success, going from a maximum of 10,000 players not to 100,000 but directly to 710,000, was surprising – even for the developers.
Steam reviews at 95% for Baldur’s Gate 3
How are the reviews on Steam? The reviews for Baldur’s Gate 3 are excellent: 95% of recent reviews are positive. Overall, the game has 91% positive reviews.
Many negative reviews date back to 2020: Back then, it was criticized that 60 € for an “Early Access” title was too expensive. With the release, this criticism has likely dissipated.
In the positive reviews, it is highlighted how fair and customer-friendly the game is. There are no DLCs, no microtransactions, and no barriers to content. Even the “Always Online” requirement, which is known from other games, doesn’t exist.
Players also praise that they can solve quests in different ways.
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