Horizon Forbidden West: PC Player Base Down 50% Over Predecessor

Expert Verified By

Disappoints With 25K Steam Concurrent Players At Launch!

Story Highlight
  • Horizon Forbidden West is finally out on PC worldwide.
  • Despite this IP’s popularity, the game has launched to just 25K players on Steam.
  • This is a 50% decline over Horizon Zero Dawn. 

After much speculation and rumors, Sony officially announced earlier this year that Horizon Forbidden West would come to PC in March 2024. While expectations were high, this game failed to make it into the Steam best-sellers before launch, hinting at an underwhelming launch.

Unfortunately, these doubts were not misplaced since Horizon Forbidden West has launched to just 25K concurrent players.

Why it matters: With the game selling 8.4 million units and its predecessor being Sony’s best-selling PC game, this performance is astonishing, to say the least.

Horizon Forbidden West SteamDB
Horizon Forbidden West Player Count via SteamDB

As seen above, the game has not seen much activity. While this concurrent player count is certainly far from bad and will continue to rise, it is a noticeable step down compared to Horizon Zero Dawn.

Back in 2020, this PlayStation exclusive launched to over 56K concurrent players on Steam. Therefore, the sequel’s player count is down by 50% despite the IP’s current popularity.

Meanwhile, other ports like The Last of Us Part 1, God of War, and Spider-Man also performed much better. All three games had a lead anywhere from 10K players to nearly 50K players.

We expected the game to make a bigger splash after Helldivers 2 broke records on PC and stayed in the Steam best-sellers after beating Palworld. However, one key distinction between them is the fact that Helldivers 2 was a day-one PC release.

Unfortunately, this has been a trend for all but Sony’s biggest PC ports, with even the likes of Uncharted receiving little fanfare. In this case, the release of Dragon’s Dogma 2 likely had an impact as well, considering this Capcom title reached nearly 200K players.

Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Forbidden West Can Rival Most Current-Gen-Only Games

On the bright side, Horizon Forbidden West runs like a dream on PC. The game fully flexes its visual prowess, which, when combined with the brilliant art style, leads to spectacular results.

We expect PlayStation’s next PC port to deliver much better results.

Considering Ghost of Tsushima already made it to Steam’s best-sellers months before launch, it has the potential to outpace everything but Helldivers 2 in terms of launch concurrent players.

Was our article helpful? 👨‍💻

Thank you! Please share your positive feedback. 🔋

How could we improve this post? Please Help us. 😔

Gear Up For Latest News

Get exclusive gaming & tech news before it drops. Sign up today!

Join Our Community

Still having issues? Join the Tech4Gamers Forum for expert help and community support!

Latest News

Join Our Community

104,000FansLike
32,122FollowersFollow

Trending

Xbox Creator Says Performance And Power Irrelevant Now; Exclusives Matter Most For Consoles

Original Xbox creator Seamus Blackley says the narrative of powerful consoles no longer appeals to gamers; they want exclusivity instead.

Rocksteady’s Batman Beyond Game Reportedly Part of Trilogy Exclusive To PlayStation

A new report has surfaced, stating that the Batman Beyond game might be a PlayStation exclusive and is part of a trilogy.

RTX 5070 Ti To Suffer From Supply Shortage Just Like RTX 5080 And 5090

The RTX 5070 Ti is nearly ready to be released, but recent reports state the graphics card will fall victim to significant supply shortages.

Ex-Amazon Prime Gaming VP Talks How The Company Failed to Dethrone Steam For Over 15 Years

In a new LinkedIn post, former Amazon Prime Gaming VP talked their multiple attempts to dethrone Steam as the biggest gaming platform.

Former Sony Executive Says PS6 Launching in 2028 ‘Feels Right’

According to the former SIE executive, the PS6 launching in 2028 feels like the right move because the PS5 faced slow growth at launch.