In the past 6 years, For Honor has grown into one of the best live service games that no one talks about. Today, it celebrates its birthday.
The French game developer and publisher Ubisoft is officially in crisis. The pirate MMO Skull & Bones has been postponed for the 6th time, and already after the fifth delay, players doubted whether the title would ever be released.
Additionally, the company’s CEO, Yves Guillemot, announced a restructuring plan for Ubisoft earlier this January. Moreover, according to Bloomberg, the company expects to incur around 500 million euros in losses for the fiscal year 2022/23, which ends in March. On top of that, Ubisoft’s loot shooter The Division 2 is currently so broken that not even Season 10 can be extended.
It seems that Rainbow Six: Siege is the only live service game from Ubisoft that is not facing a crisis. The tactical shooter has brought some new content in recent seasons that has been well received by players and can somewhat improve the cheating problem.
But appearances can be deceiving, as Ubisoft has another live service game that regularly receives new content, has a loyal community, and still maintains a certain interest among players, and it turns 6 years old today, on February 14, 2023.
What game is it? Besides titles like Rainbow Six Siege and The Division 2, Ubisoft provides a game with regular updates that is talked about far too infrequently: For Honor.
In For Honor, players fight against each other with various classes like knights, samurai, or vikings, showing in duels who the better fighter is. Similar to Rainbow Six Siege, the medieval “beat ’em up” also regularly receives new seasons that bring new content.
For example, Year 6 Season 4 introduced the new hero Afeera. In general, the team behind For Honor is constantly working to improve the game and create new content. There are even roadmaps for individual months. A community manager from Ubisoft even shared the roadmap for February on reddit.
2023 marks the start of Year 7 for For Honor, and fans can continue to look forward to new content. The number of games that receive regular updates 6 years after their release is limited, which makes it all the more surprising that no one is talking about For Honor.
We have embedded the reveal trailer of the hero Afeera here:
Solid Player Numbers on Steam
How strong is the interest in For Honor still? The community of For Honor may not be particularly large, but they are loyal to the title. The reveal trailer of Afeera garnered over 141,000 views on YouTube. In the comments, many players agree that they are looking forward to the new hero.
In comparison, the trailer for Season 10 of The Division 2 has around 100,000 views (via YouTube). This is surprising because For Honor actually receives new updates more regularly and reliably than the loot shooter. One might think that the hype for a new season in The Division 2 is greater because they appear less frequently.
Moreover, the player numbers for For Honor on Steam are solid and can hold their own against other titles that also feature a loyal community.
Here are a few comparable values of player numbers for similar titles over the past 30 days (as of February 14, 2023, via SteamCharts).
- For Honor – 3,486.6
- World of Tanks – 3,157.5
- Halo Infinite – 3,606.3
- Chivalry 2 – 1,706.6
- Insurgency: Sandstorm – 2,297.6
In December 2022, For Honor was even on par with the prime example of a game that has a loyal community: Titanfall 2. For Honor had an average of 2,867.9 players that month, while Titanfall had 2,308.3.
However, it is difficult to determine how many players For Honor has worldwide. The game is not only available on Steam but also on PlayStation and Xbox as well as in the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Connect.
For Honor is Unmatched
Why is For Honor still being played? For Honor caters to a niche with its gameplay concept. The skill-based combat system, featuring swords and other medieval melee weapons, is relatively unique. Of course, there are classic fighting games like Street Fighter, but this type of melee combat is quite unique.
Titles like Mordhau and Chivalry 2 are comparable, but they focus more on large battles with numerous players. Mordhau is somewhat reminiscent of a Battlefield with knights. In For Honor, 1v1, 2v2, or at most 4v4 duels are primarily in focus.
Thus, there is no real alternative to For Honor. This is also the view of MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus, who included the title in his list of 7 unique MMOs and multiplayer games that have no real alternative.
