Final Fantasy 14 broke its Steam concurrent players record over the weekend.
Square Enix’s long-running MMO hit 47,542 concurrent players on Steam over the weekend, according to official stats provided by Valve’s platform.
That beats the game’s previous record of 41,200, set in June 2019 just ahead of the Shadowbringers expansion.
Final Fantasy 14 – From PS3 to PS5 – Every Console Version Tested – The Complete Saga! Watch on YouTube
Without a new expansion to boost player numbers right now (Endwalker is due out November), players have suggested a number of possible reasons for Final Fantasy 14’s popularity boost – including a modest exodus from rival World of Warcraft.
It’s impossible to know exactly how many players World of Warcraft has, as Blizzard Entertainment does not publish live player stats. But there is a sense online, within Warcraft subreddits and social media, that Final Fantasy 14 is a good current alternative to Blizzard’s behemoth. Some popular Warcraft YouTubers and streamers, including Asmongold (video below) recently gave Final Fantasy 14 a shot to millions of viewers. It’s likely some followed suit.
Asmongold BLOWN AWAY By Final Fantasy XIV | First Time Playing Watch on YouTube
In May, we reported Blizzard had lost another two million players across its titles.
Reporting its latest financial results, Activision Blizzard said Blizzard specifically saw 27m monthly active users in the first quarter of 2021. That was down from the 29m MAUs Blizzard had in the previous quarter. In fact, Blizzard has lost almost 29 percent of its overall active player base in three years.