The first few days of BioMutant, the newest game from THQ Nordic, have been a bit shakey. The game launched to lackluster review scores, with critics dragging the open-world game for its mission structure and certain narrative elements. However, it appears that those middling BioMutant review scores didn't deter fans, if the game's concurrent player count on Steam is any indication.
As noted by VG247, BioMutant managed to hit an impressive peak player count on launch day, with fans flooding in to check out what the post-apocalyptic game has to offer. According to SteamDB, which tracks which games Steams users are playing, 55,048 gamers were checking out BioMutant at once on launch day. In the last 24 hours, the game managed to snag a peak count of 54,437 players, just under what it was doing right at launch.
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Currently, BioMutant is clocking in at around 33,000 players, though it's likely that the dip is due to it being a weekday, and not launch day, so fewer people are able to play. If the game is able to maintain its popularity through the week, there's a good chance it'll see a surge this weekend when more people are able to play at once. Not to mention, there are plenty of players on other platforms, so the real number of concurrent players is likely much higher.
Considering that BioMutant has been somewhat controversial – despite many anticipating it a great deal – it's impressive to see it hit such a high peak player count. It isn't often that a new IP from a small developer is able to accomplish that. Notably, BioMutant only has "Mixed" reviews on Steam, with the game sitting at a 58.43% positive rating according to SteamDB. It's not a great picture, though there's always the possibility for updates in the future, which could help make the conversation a bit more positive.
Concurrent player counts aren't necessarily the best measure of a game's success – rather it's a mix of critical and commercial success coupled with how the game affects the industry moving forward – but even with its issues, BioMutant's concurrent player count is nothing to scoff at.
The real measure will be how many players BioMutant has in the coming weeks. If it can maintain, or grow, its playerbase, then the odds of getting substantial DLC or a sequel would be a lot more likely. Of course, both of those would have the capability to fix BioMutant's issues.
BioMutant is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.