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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl releases with over 113k concurrent players on Steam

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
you don't really.
You don't? In a game where you can die in a moment? I dunno man.

also the deck has gyro, touch pads and easily adjustable mouse emulation on the sticks. so lots of tools to dial things in
True, forgot about the gyro on the Deck. That shit's good, but takes some time to get used to.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Really wonder what happened to him while he was gone... he's being saying some crazy things.
Nothing good, I tell you.
I was happy, peaceful, started a new hobby totally unrelated to games, got a promotion in work, a new car.
telling you. I am crazy now. And I even have my own opinions sometimes. HOW CRAZY IS THAT
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
I am crazy now
Evil Eye Stare GIF by MOODMAN
 

Kvally

Member
But it's not the same.

According to who?

PS takes games away from barely anyone. People who ONLY have xbox and nothing else

PS takes away games from Xbox and the largest gaming community out there, PC

... it's a small group

Over 30 million sold isn't small.

that don't buy AAA games anyway

Most Xbox gamers buy AAA games. It's the minority that play games on the subscription service.

People want Xbox to have exclusives. So when they do it, on the rare occasion, people are mad?
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Some games can get tons of users regardless of reviews or performance.

One of these zombie Z games (I forget which) came out long time ago, got grilled with awful reviews but still has tons of steam users.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
100k now but way less than expected considering the size of the Stalker franchise on PC.

Gamepass simply destroys sales, I hope MS gave them a huge pay check.
I’m no fan of Game Pass but it makes perfect sense for a game this buggy and broken.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
OP needs to be updated.



~102k.


S6JwBxE.png





100k now but way less than expected considering the size of the Stalker franchise on PC.

Gamepass simply destroys sales, I hope MS gave them a huge pay check.

huh?

The highest any of the previous STALKER games have had on Steam are 2~3 thousand max.

What metrics are you using to gauge that?
 
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ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
100k now but way less than expected considering the size of the Stalker franchise on PC.

Gamepass simply destroys sales, I hope MS gave them a huge pay check.
On par with Farming Sim lol. Not bad but we'll see the retention when initial fan effect (huge with STALKER in EU countries) will wear off.
 

clarky

Gold Member
100k now but way less than expected considering the size of the Stalker franchise on PC.

Gamepass simply destroys sales, I hope MS gave them a huge pay check.
I doubt Gamepass had hardly any effect on this games PC sales. The GP user base is tiny compared to steam.
 

Bry0

Member
100k now but way less than expected considering the size of the Stalker franchise on PC.

Gamepass simply destroys sales, I hope MS gave them a huge pay check.
Hunh? 100k concurrent seems great. It always felt like a pretty niche franchise even at its height which mostly came from the modding community.
 
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ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
The highest any of the previous STALKER games have had on Steam are 2~3 thousand max.
The series peaked in 2009 when Steam was a tiny launcher that few used, especially in Eastern Europe. But sales were measured in millions w/o consoles and STALKER was a huge cross-media franchise with it's dedicated mechandise and even literature series. Game still has a strong cult following and very active modscene on post-soviet frontiers. So I perfectly see where MarV0 MarV0 is coming from.
 
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Sentenza

Member
Already destroyed Veilguard, remember when purple forum insisted it was doing well ? DELUSIONAL.
I wouldn't call it "destroying it" yet. It's just doing marginally better so far.
But then again I can promise you that this game didn't cost anywhere near as much as Veilguard did.
And numbers will probably climb higher during the first upcoming weekend.
 
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rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Congrats on both. What car did you end up getting?
Thanks!
I got Kia Niro HEV. Full trim, hud, harman cardon audio and all. Thing even got remote forward/back from the key fob :p handy on parkings

rofif has never rofif'd so hard until this moment

Lay off the mushrooms dude.


According to who?



PS takes away games from Xbox and the largest gaming community out there, PC



Over 30 million sold isn't small.



Most Xbox gamers buy AAA games. It's the minority that play games on the subscription service.

People want Xbox to have exclusives. So when they do it, on the rare occasion, people are mad?

Don't worry guys I am ok :p
Just a tad salty it's not on ps5. I would probably get it on physical disc.
Don't get to wrapped up in this lol. I will get it on pc if I run dry out of games.
But there is probably a bit of truth in what I am saying. Anyway, it would always sell most on pc. PS5 would get more sales than xbox obviously but I don't thing THAT much.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
The series peaked in 2009 when Steam was a tiny launcher that few used, especially in Eastern Europe. But sales were measured in millionms and STALKER was a huge cross-media franchise with it's dedicated mechandise and even literature series. Game still hjas a stron cult following and very active modscene on post-soviet frontiers. So I perfectly see where MarV0 MarV0 is coming from.

The franchise has sold ~15 million over almost 18 years for the three previous releases, there's no reason to assume the sequel won't follow the same trajectory 🤷‍♂️

It just came out 3~ hours ago and is currently at 105k and rising just on Steam. Not to mention GSC already said that their first entire batch of physical prints has sold out and they will commission a second batch for release in early 2025.

The 'game pass kills sales' rhetoric is kinda unwarranted.
 
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StereoVsn

Gold Member
The series peaked in 2009 when Steam was a tiny launcher that few used, especially in Eastern Europe. But sales were measured in millions w/o consoles and STALKER was a huge cross-media franchise with it's dedicated mechandise and even literature series. Game still has a stron cult following and very active modscene on post-soviet frontiers. So I perfectly see where MarV0 MarV0 is coming from.
Yep, it’s super popular in Eastern / Central Europe and has cult status in Western Europe (ie Germany).
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Broke 100K on a Wednesday. I'm guessing it must be quite popular in Eastern Europe. It will likely climb to 120-150K on the weekend, much higher than Veilguard.
 

Peroroncino

Member
100k now but way less than expected considering the size of the Stalker franchise on PC.

Gamepass simply destroys sales, I hope MS gave them a huge pay check.

SoC peak is at 2k, CoP at 1.3k.

I'm one of the OG fans, maybe not complete STALKER-head like few who played over the years to this day, but I played vanilla and modded tens of times, STALKER never was a huge IP, it was a beloved cult classic that snowballed into something beyond that due to many copies sold for pennies over the years, but never something huge.

100k is fuckin' great, and they got gamepass bag + help from Xbox devs. I don't see them shutting down their doors anytime soon now. I hope they party hard and crack on with patches and work on expansion.
 
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ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
Broke 100K on a Wednesday. I'm guessing it must be quite popular in Eastern Europe. It will likely climb to 120-150K on the weekend, much higher than Veilguard.
Once again, it will be interesting to see the retention, because tech-wise it's a proper mess even with a recent update.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Played a bit more.

The atmosphere is incredible and the game is rock hard, just as it should be. Jank may be passable, its growing on me.

Edit playing with native language with subs. Miles better.

I'm playing it on the side right now lol, might try the Ukrainian dub, the English dub is just ok.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
The series peaked in 2009 when Steam was a tiny launcher that few used, especially in Eastern Europe. But sales were measured in millions w/o consoles and STALKER was a huge cross-media franchise with it's dedicated mechandise and even literature series. Game still has a strong cult following and very active modscene on post-soviet frontiers. So I perfectly see where MarV0 MarV0 is coming from.
Yep, it’s super popular in Eastern / Central Europe and has cult status in Western Europe (ie Germany).

But It’s also not on sale in Russia and Belarus. And it’s a work day.

Spinning 100k+ CCUs on a Wednesday as a negative is quite strange.
 

ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
But It’s also not on sale in Russia and Belarus. And it’s a work day.
Almost all Russian players are changing Steam regions to TR/KZ and perfectly playing the game right now. You can see a lot of Russian steam reviews.
Spinning 100k+ CCUs on a Wednesday as a negative is quite strange.
Once again, you're missing the context. STALKER is a cult as much as a Farming Sim that is pulling the same numbers. It's an anomaly, but i've honestly expected 200k+ because how truly popular it is here, in EU.
 
I just put in 4.5 hours and I love it so far. Doesn't perform great (when I shut it down it was right after a drop to 10fps from roughly 90) but it's very possible it's because of my CPU.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
Almost all Russian players are changing Steam regions to TR/KZ and perfectly playing the game right now. You can see a lot of Russian steam reviews.

Once again, you're missing the context. STALKER is a cult as much as a Farming Sim that is pulling the same numbers. It's an anomaly, but i've honestly expected 200k+ because how truly popular it is here, in EU.
A lot of Russian players aren’t going to play due to war (many people drafted, economy, currency issues, etc), it’s similar for Belorus And of course Ukraine has been devastated.

Then you have GamePass Day 1. So I think 100K and going up on Wednesday evening in Europe/ NA afternoon is pretty great.
 

Kvally

Member
Thanks!
I got Kia Niro HEV. Full trim, hud, harman cardon audio and all. Thing even got remote forward/back from the key fob :p handy on parkings
Nice choice! What color?
Just a tad salty it's not on ps5.
It will be on PS5 as soon as they can, they need the money. I am sure it will be Pro enhanced as well. If I like the game enough, I will double dip and buy it for my Pro as well.
 

ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
A lot of Russian players aren’t going to play due to war (many people drafted, economy, currency issues, etc), it’s similar for Belorus And of course Ukraine has been devastated.
This is a very naive look at the STALKER demographics (and I don't want to go into politics), but let's just say that it will not surprise me if Kazakhstan will miraculously be one of the main regions of STALKER 2 sales.
 

clarky

Gold Member
I just put in 4.5 hours and I love it so far. Doesn't perform great (when I shut it down it was right after a drop to 10fps from roughly 90) but it's very possible it's because of my CPU.
Performance isnt as bad as i was expecting tbh around 100 fps with frame gen on, but getting hard freezing randomly for 20 ish seconds that i think is down to saving. Almost like its crashed then bang back to normal.

Done for the night unfortunately but 3 hours in and aside from the obvious technical issues its Stalker alright, in a good way. Will get up early for a proper session and form a decent opinion tomorrow.
 
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Jigsaah

Gold Member
Well I put a couple hours in, and I've never played the first STALKER. I think there's much to be said about the difference between the previews and trailers and what I have experienced so far.
This is not what I expected and I'm trying not to be disappointed. I thought the graphics would be much better given what I've seen in those trailers. This feels similar to Watch Dogs or The Division in terms of what was advertised vs. what we got.

Behold!
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
This is a very naive look at the STALKER demographics (and I don't want to go into politics), but let's just say that it will not surprise me if Kazakhstan will miraculously be one of the main regions of STALKER 2 sales.
Of course a lot of Russian players are playing through Kazakhstan and Turkey. That doesn’t mean additional friction and war didn’t reduce the numbers that would have been there before the invasion.
 
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Stalker is a proper cult game on PC. PC gamers know what to expect of this title so if it launches in a technical messy state it won't affect the user scores much.

If you can't handle jank just wait 6 months. It isn't a bad way to go about buying games these days anyway.
 
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