Baldur’s Gate 3 Crosses Half A Million Concurrent Players on Steam
Larian Studios’ highly-anticipated title, Baldur’s Gate 3, has not yet been released on two major gaming consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Despite this, the game has already achieved remarkable success on PC. On August 3rd, 2023, after nearly three years in early access, Baldur’s Gate 3 was released on PC via Steam and GOG, and it immediately began breaking records on Steam, continuously climbing the concurrent players chart.
According to SteamDB, just after 24 hours of its global launch, Baldur’s Gate 3 achieved an impressive milestone of half a million concurrent players on Steam. At the time of writing, the game sits comfortably at a peak of 547,640 players. This achievement ranks it as the second biggest game launch on Steam in 2023, following Hogwarts Legacy, which reached an astounding peak of 879,308 concurrent players earlier this year.
One noteworthy point is that many of these players might have purchased the game during its early access phase, as it was revealed that Baldur’s Gate 3 had already sold over 2.5 million copies before the official global launch. Nonetheless, the exponential growth of concurrent players on Steam remains a significant feat for the game and a major achievement for Larian Studios.
Swen Vincke, CEO of Larian Studios and director of Baldur’s Gate 3 in a recent interview, has expressed excitement over the success, but he remains committed to preserving the studio’s fundamental principles. He stated that the focus remains on player satisfaction and exploring new gaming projects, rather than becoming complacent with their accomplishments. He simply prefers to be the underdog in the gaming industry;
I prefer being the underdog.”
As the weekend approaches, the player count of Baldur’s Gate 3 on Steam is expected to grow further. While the sales figures after the global launch are yet to be disclosed, the positive reviews and the warm reception the game has received from fans on Steam indicate a promising commercial success for Larian Studios.
Looking ahead, the PlayStation 5 version of the game is scheduled for release on September 6, 2023, with the Xbox Series X|S version also in the works, though without a definitive release date.
What are your thoughts about the initial success of Baldur’s Gate 3? Have you played the game yet? Let us know in the comments section below.
