Fall Guys had the best launch of any PC game since 2016 – But can it retain players?

Fall Guys surprised in summer 2020 as an absolute hit and won the hearts of many players. This is now reflected in numbers – but can this hype last?

Fall Guys was so successful: At the beginning of August, the indie game Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout launched and immediately became a player magnet. The launch was so successful that the servers immediately crashed and on Twitch it went through the roof.

A report from SuperData, an analytics firm, found that Fall Guys was more successful on PC at launch than any other game in the last four years. The launch on PC generated a total of 185 million US dollars, making it the largest since Overwatch in May 2016 (via SuperData).

In the console overview for August, however, Fall Guys is missing from the top 10 – which is not surprising. After all, the game launched for free on PS4 as a PS Plus game, which likely contributed to the player influx and thus also to the hype. Apparently, however, players were not as generous when it came to the shop.

For August, Fall Guys is therefore considered an absolute success. But what about the coming months?

What does the future hold for Fall Guys?

So here is the current status: That Fall Guys had an incredibly successful start is undisputed. The chaotic game struck a chord and not only captured the numbers mentioned above, but also became the most downloaded PS Plus game of all time.

However, the hype seems to be fading a bit. This can be clearly seen in the Steam numbers: Fall Guys reached its absolute peak with 172,062 players on August 22, 2020. Over time, the player count declined, fluctuating between 40,000 and 80,000 players in the past week. Thus, the game has not disappeared – but the numbers are noticeably lower than in August.

What does the future bring? It will be exciting to see if Fall Guys can maintain its hype. After all, the original concept primarily offered obstacle courses and games that were continuously repeated – with an overall simple control scheme.

In recent weeks, Fall Guys has started to introduce a bit of variety. The “Big Yeetus & Anti-Cheatus” update for example, mixed up the levels quite a bit and equipped them with changing obstacles.

The next big step will be the new Season 2. It will include new mini-games, as well as variations of familiar games. Additionally, new costumes in a medieval style will be added.

Whether this is enough to bring players back into the game strongly will be seen next month. The current season runs until October 6, 2020.