‘Elden Ring’ Breaks Records for Concurrent Players
Over a week into the release into most games, there is often a slump in player numbers, as gamers go off to play the next big, shiny AAA toy to come out. Perhaps you’ll return to Playstation’s Horizon: Forbidden West, which had the unfortunate release of one week before the most anticipated game of all time? You might move onto the Switch's Octopath Traveler follow-up Triangle Strategy for something a bit different? You might even take a chance on one of the many impressive indie titles releasing in March- which surely need some love! Or Just Tetris (again), which has over 150 different official variants (yes, that’s actually the real number). It’s going to be Tetris, isn’t it? Either way, most games wither out and fall in player numbers after a week of coming out (especially for single-player releases). This makes it even more impressive (and perhaps perplexing) why FromSoftware’s superb Elden Ring just keeps increasing its player base.
Sure, some games start off small and grow through YouTubers, streamers, and word of mouth, but this is THE Elden Ring we’re talking about! This isn’t Hollow Knight, Super Meat Boy, or (God Forbid) Five Nights at Freddy’s. This is the same game that received the Game Award’s most anticipated game for two years running. That sort of hype is already at its peak the weeks and days before release- or so we thought.
Through the use of the website ‘Steam Charts’, we can see how Elden Ring is only just getting started. Hitting a record-breaking (for single-player releases) 952,523 player peak over the weekend. To put this in perspective, the PC port of GTA V managed to reach a 360,761 peak at one time. Yeah- that’s a lot of players. This isn’t an online multiplayer game (well, mostly- we’ll talk about that in a bit). This is a single-player experience that has a start and a finish point unless you can’t surpass its tougher-than-the-toughest-of-nails difficulty- which I wouldn’t blame you for. So, why has the hype train kept rolling on? Well, one reason could be its excellent reviews by critics and players alike. Achieving a crazy high 97 on Metacritic and 96 on OpenCritic. While user scores fall slightly shorter, there’s no denying how much good press Elden Ring has received, which has undeniably contributed to its success.
Now, of course, there are also vague multiplayer-esque elements in Elden Ring (see- I told you we’d get to that). Similarly to previous FromSoftware titles, this isn’t your typical hop online and play with your friends in a quick COD match type of multiplayer. This is much more complex, and a whole lot more intense. First seen in Dark Souls, (which seems to be impossible NOT to bring up when talking about any videogame ever) this system allows invading worlds of other players and either helping them, or killing them mercilessly. This is why I was hesitant to call this system completely multiplayer. Sure, the system exists, but it is very limited, and most encounters are all segregated to certain spots in Elden Ring’s massive world where you can interact. Furthermore, you can simply opt out of these encounters (which I’m sure is true for at least some of the player-base). It seems unlikely that this is the main reason for the growing success Elden Ring enjoys.
Realistically, the most likely culprit of this ravenous hype that refuses to falter is quite simple: people playing the game. There is no better way to market a videogame than through your fans. In fact, this is true for anything. Make a product great enough, and you’re practically guaranteed to have at least a portion of your customers raving about it any way they can. Of course, the potential for this is much more widespread for media when compared to, say, a kitchen extension (unless it’s a very good kitchen extension). It’s true that movies, TV and games especially are intrinsically linked to the internet- and this is how they thrive. Online forums, reviews and even chat sites such as Discord all help build the brand for releases. It just so happens that FromSoftware’s latest title managed to hit it not only out of the park, but into a different time zone in this way.
So, Elden Ring owes much of its success to the pre-release and (more importantly) post-release hype that millions are shouting from the proverbial rooftop. Like a sneaky virus, this game implants excitement in a person’s head that can only be removed through two ways: buy the game, and tell everyone you know to buy the game. Its that simple. It harkons back to a day where word of mouth was king in grabbing player’s attention (albeit a tad bit more electronic nowadays). Whether you like the game or not, you can’t say it hasn’t been successful.
Sources:
https://tetris.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_games
https://steamcharts.com/
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2021/12/elden-ring-is-the-game-awards-most-anticipated-game-for-the-second-year-in-a-row
