After 10 years, the popular MMORPG Guild Wars 2 finally came to Steam on August 23, 2022. At the same time, there were Twitch drops to boost viewer numbers in streaming. Some hoped the launch on the PC platform would attract new players for the popular MMORPG. We at MeinMMO examine how things are looking after 3 days regarding Steam reviews, player numbers, and Twitch viewership.
This is the situation:
- On August 28, 2012, the MMORPG launched in Europe – with its own launcher
- 10 years later, on August 23, the MMORPG arrived on Steam. As it is known, German players love Guild Wars 2.
- The base version of Guild Wars 2 is free on Steam. In our opinion, it has been one of the best free-to-play MMORPGs for years. However, the game now offers numerous expansions, and those wanting the complete package with 2 expansions and the living world pay 99.97 €.
Guild Wars 2 is one of the most popular MMORPGs among Germans:
Longtime fans promote Guild Wars 2 on Steam
How are the reviews? Guild Wars 2 has 85% positive reviews after 3 days and is rated as “very positive.”
Many who commented are longtime fans of Guild Wars 2 wishing to wholeheartedly recommend the game to others:
- People praise the horizontal progression, highlighting that no endless grind is needed
- The development of Guild Wars 2 is praised
- The community is described as helpful
One player gives extensive tips and tricks to beginners in his review, advising them to stay away from loot boxes and ideally use a PC with a strong CPU.
Player starts fresh with Guild Wars 2, feels intimidated by max-level heroes
Are there negative reviews as well? Yes, there are.
A user who actually started fresh quickly lost interest in Guild Wars 2, as he encountered max-level characters on flying mounts everywhere just shortly after starting, glowing like a disco ball.
The Steam user states he is very dissatisfied with his first hours in the game, preferring to play alone or with people at his level.
Another Steam user criticized that after 10 years, he took another look at Guild Wars 2 and is now appalled by the game’s graphics. Guild Wars 1 was indeed prettier.
A third user says: The positive reviews are encouraged from reddit to Guild Wars 2 (via reddit): Therefore, so many players write positive reviews, even though they have only played the Steam version for a short time. However, he criticizes the development of the title in recent years.
How do player numbers on Steam compare to other MMORPGs?
How are the player numbers? The player numbers on Steam are modest. A peak of 5,510 players was reached at launch. This is indeed disappointing since Guild Wars 2 wanted to create a big buzz with the Steam launch through additional promotional actions.
Comparable MMORPGs like ESO (13,697), Black Desert (14,795), and Final Fantasy XIV (26,376) currently have a multiple of the player numbers that Guild Wars 2 reached at its peak during the Steam release. World of Warcraft is not playable through Steam. Lost Ark, which is only playable through Steam, has a completely different dimension with 177,599 players on Steam.
It is also noticeable with the reviews that many Steam users who claim to have spent thousands of hours in the game have spent only a few minutes in the Steam version of Guild Wars 2. They are likely continuing to play in the normal client.
Nearly 50,000 viewers achieved through Twitch Drops
How is it on Twitch: With the Steam release and accompanying Twitch drops, a short-term hype was generated on Twitch: At its peak, 49,945 viewers tuned in, but such hypes through Twitch giveaways are not sustainable. The viewer numbers have more than halved at the peak after just a few days.
- The peak of 49,943 viewers on August 23 was enormous compared to August 22, where only 2,394 viewers were reached at peak
- But already on August 25, the peak was only 23,423 simultaneous viewers
- This number is likely to continue to drop rapidly in the coming days
The biggest streamers on Twitch were not “new streamers,” but the regular Guild Wars 2 streamers, such as Mukluk or MightyTeapot, who simply had many more viewers than usual.
In Germany, the fan site “GuildNews” reached a peak of 1,416 simultaneous viewers on Twitch (via sullygnome).
The goal for ArenaNet to show presence on Twitch again has surely been accomplished with the Twitch drops.
The Twitch drops run from August 23 to August 28. Anyone wanting to claim all the prizes must have 10 hours of Twitch viewing: (via
This is what lies behind it: New players likely lack the experience of starting on a completely new server in this version of Guild Wars 2. Such a “fresh start” server would have been valuable for a major Steam release but is difficult to reconcile with the server structure of Guild Wars 2.
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