With Visions of Eternity, the sixth expansion to the MMORPG Guild Wars 2 is now live. Accordingly, player numbers on Steam have reached a new high. The community is using this as an opportunity to especially target a group of players.
What peak did Guild Wars 2 reach on Steam? Yesterday, on October 28, 2025, at 5:00 PM CET, Visions of Eternity was released and has since attracted many players to the shores of Castora. As a result, the MMORPG reached a new all-time high of 9,536 concurrent players on Steam (via SteamDB, as of October 29, 2025, 10:40 AM CET).
The peak is only slightly above the player high in August with 9,512, but it’s important to consider that in August the beta for the new elite specializations was playable, which have now been introduced with the expansion. Since the announcement of the expansion in July 2025, the MMORPG has already been able to double its player numbers on Steam.
Since only a part of the total player base of Guild Wars 2 plays the game via Steam, this demonstrates the interest that Visions of Eternity has sparked in players. The player peak through the official launcher is likely to be significantly higher, although there are no official figures available.
The community is using this attention to address a group of players who unfortunately are not doing so well at the moment.
“I welcome all New World refugees with open arms”
Which players is the community addressing? In a thread on Reddit, players are discussing the new milestone. Most celebrate the significant player increase due to the expansion, but this joy is somewhat dampened by another piece of news.
Unfortunately, things do not look so rosy for fans of the MMORPG New World by Amazon Games. Due to recent layoffs by Amazon, it unfortunately also resulted in the development of the game being halted and the servers closing at the end of 2026. This is despite New World recently having experienced a revival and drawn players back in.
The Guild Wars 2 community is thus calling on disappointed players from New World to join them in their favorite MMORPG. New World and Guild Wars 2 have several things in common that could appeal to players.
For example, both New World and Guild Wars 2 do not rely on a clear-cut holy trinity of tank, healer, and attacker. Both MMORPGs also offer great freedom in terms of playstyle and many combination possibilities to experiment with builds using weapons and abilities. Exploration plays a significant role in both games. Additionally, the focus on a more action-oriented combat system is similar.
User Sidnature therefore writes on Reddit: “I have the feeling that the value will rise even higher in the next days or weeks, especially since Amazon just discontinued New World. Many New World players will be looking for a new home…”.
Sandvichh also agrees on Reddit: “New content has also been released for GW2. I welcome all New World refugees from the new world with open arms. It’s a shame what has happened.”.
If you are considering switching from New World to Guild Wars 2 and exploring Tyria, the community welcomes you with open arms. Especially with Visions of Eternity, starting in Guild Wars 2 as a newcomer is particularly worthwhile. The expansion focuses on several aspects that make it especially approachable: Is it worth starting Guild Wars 2 with Visions of Eternity? What newcomers should know about the new expansion
