Crimson Desert Skyrockets to Steam's Top 3 Most-Played Games Immediately After Launch

Crimson Desert has made an explosive debut on Steam, securing a spot among the platform's top three most-played games mere minutes after its release. This achievement signals the potential for massive concurrent player numbers on Valve's platform.

Pearl Abyss's highly anticipated open-world action game was already poised for a major launch, having topped the Steam sales charts and amassed 3 million wishlists prior to today's release. Rhys Elliott, head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics, commented earlier this week that Crimson Desert was "on track for a killer launch on Steam." According to Alinea Analytics estimates, the game had sold nearly 400,000 pre-launch copies on Steam, generating gross revenues exceeding $20 million. Elliott added, "This game could really blow up, if it sticks the landing."

On Steam, only Valve's perennially popular titles Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2 currently boast higher player counts. At the time of publication, Crimson Desert was rapidly approaching 250,000 concurrent players on Steam. The game is also available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, meaning the total player base is likely significantly larger than Steam's figures suggest, though neither Sony nor Microsoft publicly disclose player numbers.

This successful launch follows a period where Pearl Abyss, the publisher and developer of Crimson Desert, saw its stock price drop by nearly 30%, a decline widely attributed to initial review scores.

For more on Crimson Desert, check out our coverage including patch notes for the day one update, IGN's Crimson Desert Review So Far, our launch interview with Will Powers, and a detailed Crimson Desert PC performance review.