Horizon Forbidden West's Steam Release Clocks Lesser Players Than Zero Dawn

Horizon: Forbidden West hit an early peak of 25,258 players after launching on PC, which is less than half as compared to its predecessor.

[DaMist]

Well historically, this series has terrible release timing, always releasing against a juggernaut, so that doesn't surprise me.

[Vits]

Yep, even though DD2 has its issues, it was one of the most anticipated games of the year. Releasing the port so close to its launch definitely did not do it any favors. That said, if it follows Zero Dawn life cycle, Sony should expect a long tail for this one.

[Cacabunga]

2 very good games, but single player so i don’t know why it surprises people that player count is less than at release?

[SyntheticForm]

I enjoyed Forbidden West, but I stopped about halfway through to play Elden Ring. I then became addicted to Elden Ring and didn't revisit Forbidden West until about 8 months later, resulting in a rather disjointed experience that I barely remember story-wise.

Here's hoping they give their next release a wide berth.

[potatoseal]

Yeah you shouldn't be doing that lol. I feel like I must finish whatever game I'm playing regardless. Hope you still had fun in the last half of the game :)

[SyntheticForm]

@potato

Usually I don't play multiple games at once, but Elden Ring was a new, unique Souls game with the GoT author having made tremendous writing contributions to the game, and this wasn't going to wait for anything.

I did have fun with the latter half, but I never had an honest-to-goodness grasp of the story.

That aside, I do remember that the presentation and production was top notch from beginning to end - the characters and environments so well done. Perhaps one day I'll revisit.

[thesoftware730]

At that point, you need to start from the beginning; I have done that with a few games, but I always find it better to just start over.

[Storm23]

It's too bad. I thought the game was amazing.

[TheEroica]

Sony missed their window... They should've release day one on PC... Remember ps5 gamers forgot about this game within a couple weeks of launch. It was mediocre, as many Sony exclusives are, and the hype is gone.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Last time I looked, it didn't even crack the top 40 in the Steam charts (I think it held position 49 when I looked), Horizon really does have a cursed release schedule.

[itsmebryan]

I couldn't wait fir the first one ti come to PC. I played it and was disappointed. I'm not surprised the second one didn't do well.

[thesoftware730]

While true, wouldn't that speak volumes about the game itself? The series is already established, which means the game falls into mid-tier if it can't ever stand up to any other anticipated games.

I know what you are saying, but nevertheless, it is an excuse and reflects the demand for the game not being that great.

[Lightning77]

As far as I'm concerned. The PC elitists like Oh No It's Alex, Fritanga etc don't play Sony games. They both have very rabid PC fanbase so at least they're consistent in their stances. I guess this game reflects that.

On the other hand they laugh as Sony games go on PC and and saying we get your games, we get all the games. The flip flop is real so I dunno.

[Rebel_Scum]

Its one of those game that should’ve been one game and done tbh. The sequel is great but story wise wasnt that interesting.

[Tacoboto]

It doesn't make sense that after the criticisms of the base game, especially with Aloy being obnoxiously chatty and puzzle-spoiley, they double downed on it in Burning Shores.

The final set piece should've been the coolest moment and mission of the franchise but it was the most irritating when Aloy and Seyka just would not shut up for any part of it. It's like Guerrilla thinks its players can't figure out even the simplest things on their own.

I don't remember the first game thinking so lowly of the player...

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Haven't played the game myself, but a lack lustre story seems to be a common compliant of the sequel, unfortunately I really loved the lore/story of the first game and I would have liked more of that expanded on.

[DivineHand125]

I platinumed both games and played all the dlc expansions. There is nothing wrong with the story of the second game and I think the people calling the story lackluster are the loud minority. Don't expect any major plot twist like in the first game where you learned why the world is way it is in the second game. It is still one of the better stories in the sci-fi genre.

For spoiler reasons I can't reveal anything, but I had a great time with Horizon Forbidden west with nearly 100 hours in. Unlike the first game, when battling machines, your focus shouldn't be to destroy them immediately but to harvest as many parts as possible during each confrontation as more crafting is involved in the second game.

[Harkins1721]

40k now.

[ChasterMies]

In case anyone didn’t know, this is a single player game. Your experience doesn’t depend on the peak player population.

[Aphrodia]

Can we get GT7 pc now?

[_Decadent_Descent]

Eh, Demon's Souls remake first.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

That's been the most confusing absence so far from Sony's PC releases. It would be a direct competitor to Forza again, and they could expand further on the physics to try and take some market share from games like iRacing, Assetto Corsa/ACC, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, etc.. I doubt they would allow for mod support though, which hurts it against most of those other games outside of iRacing.

[Aphrodia]

GT7 i just looked came out in 2022. It will be at least another 2-3 years before the pc version. I've been playing V Rally on my 3080 beast. 6 year old game looks fantastic even today and that game is not even close to the level of detail in GT. To think what gt7 could be on pc.

[PRIMORDUS]

That I would want, they are doing a disservice by not bringing GT7 over to PC can you imagine the graphics upgrade not to mention RT, mods, throw in reshade and that would be the definitive version. Polyphony Digital would truly see how their game can look

[Armyofdarkness]

Aloy sucks and the costumes for the npc's look so bad, especially in the first. Dudes got taped metal to their heads. I know I'm in the minority but I think this franchise is mediocre at best.

[Aaroncls7]

Maybe cz in this one Aloy is fat, ugly and looks like a man?
Or maybe cz she is a generic Mary Sue with no hint of personality?
Nah, it is probably the dinosaur robots that got old really fast.
Well, all that and releasing next to DD2.

[Exvalos]

Game already got hacked, so PC guys can already download it free. There not worried about buying it, game is old and released next to Dragons Dogma 2. Not to even mention how well Helldivers is doing along with Palworld, the timing for forbidden west on PC is absolutely horrible and it got sent there to die.

[Cockney]

This has been the case for most of sony's 1st party single player games, they reap the benefits of being exclusive then some time later throw it out there on pc, its worked so far and looks like continuing, yes piracy is a problem on pc we all know this including Sony thats why they don't go down the day and date route.
10-20 million sales on ps5 at £70 then another million or two sales on pc is not to be sniffed at despite the risk of piracy.

[anast]

They already played it on the PS5.

[ARESWARLORD]

For me the problem is price. I can play it for free on my PS5 through the subscription service.

Would rather play on PC but not interested in paying $70 to do so.

[Kornholic]

Stop saying subscriptions are free. There is nothing free about perpetual rent.

[Kekewei]

The game just passed censorship check and got a official release in China, which is very rare considering even Nintendo games have failed many times(including zelda series)..

[MocBistro]

This game is a boring wokefest. I gave up halfway through the game and didn't bother to look back.

[D0nkeyBoi]

I'm confused, is it comparing to the predessesor's innitial release player count, or it's player count in 2024?

[Petebloodyonion]

Well, Sony higher-ups explained why HZ Forbidden West isn't selling and it must also apply to PCs it's because it's on PS+ extra.
https://gamingbolt.com/hori...

[8bitAssassin]

Your asses are late to the party. Go clean the dishes.

[Grimbarian]

"Lesser players"? Bit judgemental...

[P_Bomb]

Best graphics out of anything I own. Not a bad game either! Game’s old tho. People are fickle.

[Aussiesummer]

Very dissapointed in nixxes with this release, they could have added some sort of raytracing but nup, just a straight port, boo.

[Youngindy21]

I might pick it up on PC. I played it on PS4, but couldn't finish it because the framerate was so bad. It was a decent game, but I could see why some might not be interested.

[jznrpg]

That is true for any game. No game interests everyone