Sons of the Forest was released in an early access state on Steam yesterday, and in the twenty-four hours since it launched, it has produced staggering, almost unexpected numbers.
On Steam, Sons of the Forest has secured (at the time of writing) a peak player count of 350,000. By way of comparison, Grand Theft Auto V’s all-time concurrent peak count on Steam sits at just over 360,000.
Not only that, but Sons of the Forest has logged a peak viewership on Twitch of 769,000 viewers, beating peak records set by the likes of Modern Warfare II, Apex Legends, Escape From Tarkov, and Overwatch 2.
Oh, and within 24 hours, Sons of the Forest had sold more than two million copies.
And We’re Just One Day In
Weeks ago, the developer of Sons of the Forest, Endnight Games, announced that it would be launching the game in an early access state, so as to avoid any delays or postponements. It was stated that they’d be essentially relying on the community to provide critical feedback on the game and to ultimately understand that there may be some sizeable bugs present.
Regardless of that fact, Sons of the Forest has launched in remarkably good shape, and despite being exclusive to PC, it is pulling in massive numbers. Since launching The Forest in 2014, Endnight Games has expanded its operations, moving well away from being a mere four-man team, which is what it was when The Forest was developed.
This growth has enabled the firm to broaden Sons of the Forest far beyond what its predecessor was, introducing a much bigger map, more complex mechanics, and an AI companion system.
In a report by Rock Paper Shotgun, it was suggested that the launch of Sons of the Forest was so popular, with so many players trying to download it, that it may have crashed Steam’s launcher.
Currently, Sons of the Forest is the top-selling game on Steam, which comes as no surprise, given the numbers it’s achieving. It’s the kind of game that will experience a sharp drop-off in the coming days, but it’s still a remarkable launch period for Sons of the Forest and for Endnight Games.
