With the launch of the open beta of Dota Underlords, there is already a huge rush on Steam. The new autobattler from Valve has already reached three times as many concurrent users on Steam shortly after the start of the open beta as the struggling Artifact, Valve’s last game, ever had online. It was launched with so much hype and effort.
So many players does Dota Underlords have: Currently, the record is 176,633 players who have downloaded Dota Underlords for free and are playing simultaneously.
With this peak value of concurrent players, the title is in 4th place on Steam, only behind the perennial favorites PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Dota 2.
This was the player record for Artifact: Valve’s last game had about 60,000 players online at launch day in November 2018. But this number quickly dwindled.
Currently, Artifact only has 100 players online.
That’s why the comparison is unfair: Artifact was a “Buy2Play” title for €17.95, so players had to purchase it on Steam. In contrast, anyone can play Dota Underlords.
Still, that’s a remarkable difference – especially in Valve’s expectations.
Artifact was planned as a hit – Dota Underlords is one
What’s behind it: The interesting thing here is that Artifact was planned right from the start as “the next esports title and record game” by Valve.
Artifact was released with relatively high hype and was considered a “Hearthstone killer.” Streamers were eagerly anticipating the release. Valve promised big esports tournaments for Artifact, as dotesports reported.
That’s why the hard and brutal crash of the card game was so remarkable – as Valve is regarded as a hit factory, where almost nothing goes wrong.
Dota Underlords, on the other hand, shot to the top from the start and has already secured a place in the top 5 on Steam.
The game follows the current trend of “Auto Chess” but is considered lighter and more accessible than competing games. Many fans can relate to the characters from Dota 2.
These two points, along with surely the free-to-play entry, are helping the game to reach heights on Steam that Artifact could never attain.
