Age of Empires fans have been pleading for a successor for years, so it should come as no surprise that players are eager for a new chapter in the venerable strategy game franchise. It’s official: Age of Empires 4 has launched, and it’s immediately blowing up the Steam rankings. The game has more players than any prior edition or re-release, and it’s safely ranked in the top 20 on the platform.
According to SteamDB, immediately after Age of Empires IV’s release, the game had 54,851 active players. With such a climb, Rocket League surpassed Rainbow Six: Siege as the most popular Steam game of the day, while Rainbow Six: Siege had the second highest peak of the day. At one point earlier this year, the game Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition had a peak player count of 38,725. And the Xbox Game Pass subscribers on PC are other than these numbers.
As far as strategy game launches go, that’s a record-breaker. If you’re picky about ‘tactics’ vs. “strategy,” then you can eliminate Total War: Warhammer’s record-breaking 113,019 consecutive gamer start from the equation.
