Open-world survival-crafter Rust has managed to hit a new all-time player count record on Steam, despite the fact that the game is nearing its seventh anniversary (and it's been out for even longer if you count Early Access).
According to the ever-reliable SteamDB, Rust managed to hit 262,284 players within the last 24 hours, which is also the game's all-time peak. Even at time of writing, it's sitting at 200,694 players, so it's not like that spike was a fluke.
Of course, these numbers probably won't come as a surprise if you're a Rust player or if you've been following the game. After all, Rust's player count has been slowly climbing since its 2013 release, although the 262,284 jump is impressive even within that context.
So, what's driving this player count increase? It's likely that the Steam Winter Sale, during which Rust was available at a 50% discount, contributed hugely to the game's surge in popularity.
We're also just moving out of the holiday season, during which many players will have had more time to play games. Both of these are likely contributing factors to Rust's newfound (extra) success, although content creators on platforms like YouTube and Twitch likely also shouldn't be discounted.
If you're not familiar with Rust, it's an open-world survival-crafting game in which "the only aim" is to survive. Rust's world is also unapologetically hostile; it's one in which "everything wants you to die", according to developer and publisher Facepunch.
Since release, Rust has received a number of updates bringing new features to the game, including the likes of military bases to raid for goodies, above-ground trains to ride, and improvements to existing features, among other things.
Sadly, you're a little late to check out Rust as part of the Steam Winter Sale, but you can still grab it right now on PC via Steam, as well as on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (and current-gen machines via backwards compatibility).
