Sony recently launched Returnal, the latest game from developer Housemarque, on PC but it’s off to a pretty slow start. The roguelike title originally released as a PS5 exclusive back in 2021 to critical acclaim and it looks like the PC port has received similar praise, but the player numbers are lower than expected. According to Steam, it managed to gain just under 7,000 concurrent players at launch, making it Sony’s second most unpopular PC game at the moment.
Data shared by SteamDB shows that Returnal peaked at 6,691 players at launch, which is quite a gap compared to other Sony PC titles like God of War or Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered. On the bright side, Returnal performed admirably better than Sackboy: A Big Adventure which launched on PC to around 610 players during its peak.
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While Returnal turned out to be a hit with console players, it looks like the PC crowd hasn’t warmed up to the game, at least at launch. It’s possible that we could see that number rise and gain momentum over time, but there are a few factors that possibly contributed to the low player numbers recorded by Steam.
Returnal launched in a very busy February 2023 window which saw the release of several new titles including Hogwarts Legacy, Wild Hearts and Atomic Heart, among many others which all released on PC as well. Most players presumably went for the latest titles but it’s possible for Returnal to slowly gather a bigger player base on PC in the coming months. Right now, it’s unfortunately Sony’s second weakest PC release behind Sackboy.
Returnal still managed to resonate with critics and fans on PC, earning an 87 average rating on Metacritic with “Very Positive” reviews on Steam. We’ll have to wait and see if these numbers improve or not but it doesn’t look like it’s off to a great start. Read our full Returnal PC review here.
Source: SteamDB
