Phantom Blade Zero reaches 723,876 concurrent Steam players on launch day

This is a new development in a story we reported earlier: S-Game makes PC preloading live for Phantom Blade Zero with 300GB space request.

Phantom Blade Zero reached 723,876 concurrent players on Steam on its Oct. 29 launch day, topping the half-million mark that PCGamesN said it passed within the first few hours after release.

Inven Global said Valve data showed 684,297 players at 6:11 AM PT on Oct. 29, roughly 11 hours after launch. By 9:20 AM PT, the live count had dropped to about 470,000. KeenGamer cited SteamDB figures showing the game opened at 02:00 UTC and passed 430,000 players within three hours.

Nerdly said Steam showed 399,310 players in game at 06:30 UTC on Oct. 29, the morning after the Oct. 28 release. KeenGamer said Phantom Blade Zero trails Baldur’s Gate 3’s Steam peak of 875,343 by 151,467 concurrent players. Kotaku said Black Myth: Wukong’s Steam launch ranks second all-time with 2,415,714 concurrent players.

PCGamesN said Phantom Blade Zero reached number two for concurrent players, trailing only Counter-Strike 2 and still climbing. The outlet also said it is Steam’s top seller globally and number one in territories including the United States and United Kingdom. KeenGamer said the game ranked third on Steam’s most-played chart during its first day on sale. Kotaku called it the 15th most-played launch in Steam history within a day of release.

Nerdly said Counter-Strike 2 peaked at 1,281,353 players on the most-played chart, followed by Dota 2 at 707,688 and PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS at 808,962. The outlet also said Phantom Blade Zero’s count at that moment exceeded the daily peaks of Deadlock, Call of Duty, and Cyberpunk 2077.

Inven Global said the PC and PS5 release went live Oct. 28 at 7 PM PT, or Oct. 29 at 10 AM Beijing Time; a boxed PS5 edition follows in 2027. KeenGamer said the PC version launched on both Steam and the Epic Games Store alongside PS5. PCGamesN said Steam lists it at $59.99 / £49.99.

Nerdly said S-GAME Publishing handles publishing duties, and the game is available on Windows. KeenGamer said its Steam store page shows a Metacritic score of 88. Nerdly also said of 2,002 Steam user reviews, 79% were positive, earning the game a Mostly Positive label.

Kotaku said S-GAME, a Chinese studio, had only made mobile games and built the action-RPG on Unreal Engine 5. PCGamesN said S-GAME tested the game on mid-range and lower-end PCs and on handhelds.

Kotaku said Liang published a heartfelt letter about the game’s creation with the day-one patch announcement. He said the game’s roots go back to an indie project he made as a student during hardship and uncertainty. “several of our key battles were created by a few young teammates in their twenties,” Liang said. PCGamesN said Liang’s first student project was Rainblood: Town of Death, made with RPG Maker.

KeenGamer said the day-one PC patch is 5 GB and adds better ray tracing, path tracing upgrades and bug fixes. Those with preloaded copies should download and install the day-one patch before starting, while fresh downloads already contain it. The outlet also said S-GAME found instability with Nvidia driver 621.01 and recommends driver 617.42 for best performance. PCGamesN said Liang expects a new Nvidia driver soon and advises staying on 617.42 until it arrives.

PCGamesN said boss fights include checkpoints, so players do not have to start from the beginning after dying. IGN India writer Travis Northup spent 50 hours on his first playthrough and said dying likely costs less than 30 seconds.

Kotaku described a 30-hour story campaign whose Halloween weekend opening will show whether it holds players.

Inven Global described the setting as kungfupunk, blending traditional Chinese style with mechanical prosthetics, industrial ruins and rock music. The outlet said the Steam page lists more than 30 primary weapons and over 20 Phantom Edges taken from fallen enemies.

Polygon said the game has four difficulty options. KeenGamer said the game includes 36 trophies and a Platinum roadmap for missable side quests.

Shenzhen-based consultant Daniel Camilo said the game is awaited by core gamers in China and around the world, but not as a cultural phenomenon anywhere, including China. S-GAME dropped its other in-development projects after the PlayStation Showcase reveal to focus everything on Phantom Blade Zero. PCGamesN said the reveal came at the PlayStation Showcase in May 2023.

KeenGamer said a December 2025 trailer at The Game Awards set the release date for Sept. 9, 2026. The outlet also said Liang announced a 50-day delay to Oct. 29, 2026 after a State of Play in June 2026, that pre-orders began Aug. 12, 2026 with a new pre-order trailer, and that the official launch trailer arrived on Oct. 22, 2026.

Inven Global said the Steam store page quotes review scores of 9/10 from IGN and GamesRadar+ and 10/10 from Wccftech. Polygon’s review said the game ultimately lacks trust in the player despite its dazzling aesthetics.