Welcome to another State of the Game! This week we'll be covering the week of releases from the 11th to the 17th of September this year. After the massive dip of last week, we've had a bumper week with over 240 games released, multiple massive titles and a resurgence with an old favorite thanks to some free keys. Let's take a deeper look at some of this week's games.
Divinity: Original Sin II takes out this week's top spot by a slim margin but has since gone from strength to strength. As of writing its average concurrent player base has tripled since release, a feat that very few games manage to achieve. What is particularly interesting however is its effect on the original which, starting about 2 weeks prior to the sequel's release, saw a gradual swell in players. That has continued well past launch as well, indicating that many players are either revisiting or playing through the original before they dive into the sequel. Hats off to Larian Studios for this great achievement!
NBA 2K18 managed to grab the second spot despite the controversy surrounding the game's microtransactions and pay-to-win model. The game's average concurrent users has dwindled somewhat, down to 10K from its opening week of almost 15K, but it seems that there's a base audience that will play it regardless.
Whilst it's not covered directly in the infographic here it's interesting to compare and contrast Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, specifically from a regional level. Dishonored follows the typical breakdown that you see on most Steam games with the player distribution following the global averages. PES 2018, by comparison, is far more heavily favored in countries where soccer is popular with the USA coming in at 8th overall. Whilst that might not be totally surprising it's always interesting to see instances where data confirms "obvious" insights.
Psychonauts made a small comeback thanks to a 48-hour free key giveaway as part of the Humble Store's end of Summer Sale. At its peak, it went from having around 50 odd people playing to over 4,000! Not bad for a 12-year-old game.
