I know you'd rolled out some versions of multiplayer back in 2014 or so. So bringing a lot of those players back all at once, along with the viral effect of them wanting to play multiplayer with their friends, is probably another prime factor in how it grew so rapidly on its release. We also clearly had a huge existing customer base of over 2 million players that we've been slowly accumulating over the past decade. However, the sheer magnitude of it is something we could never have expected. We knew that, if we stuck the landing of the MP release, that things could go gangbusters. We definitely knew there was a lot of potential there, from our feedback from our community during the single player beta, and seeing where players were looking for roleplaying opportunities in games that cater to it. I think it's likely a combination of all the things you mention, all contributing to fuelling us to stay in the top ten and be in line of sight of more potential customers. Were you surprised about the virality increase in taking Project Zomboid multiplayer? Do you think this interest spike is being fueled by Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, existing users recommending, or all of the above? Easy, huh? And luckily, we had a chance to chat to Project Zomboid co-creator, The Indie Stone's Chris Simpson about how this all went down: So yes, adding 32-person multiplayer and Minecraft-style dedicated servers on top of a game that had already been a decade-plus in development is a great way to have a smash hit on Steam. And with streamers, actually, if you look at Sullygnome's Twitch stats for the game. Yes, that's a 65,000 CCU high, wow! And it's with the multiplayer patch for the game - officially released on December 20th but available in Beta earlier in December - that the game has gone through the roof with players. (We recommend watching the 'Can I survive as an underweight, weak basket case?' YouTube video that helped spawn that high.) But look at the game's Steam CCU in recent weeks: This blog post from November 2020 reveals a new high peak concurrent user (CCU) count of over 5,000 at that time. Starting in 2020, the game started surging to new heights, in part thanks to streamer support. And in looking around, I was impressed with both the depth of its 'painstakingly survive the zombie apocalypse at all costs' gameplay, and the strength of its modding scene and its community-centric GaaS dev approach. It's had 40,000 Steam reviews life-to-date through the end of November. To be clear, Project Zomboid has always been popular. It's been on Steam since 2013, and its first version was released all the way back in 2011! We believe that it's the longest-running Steam game still in Early Access, according to this list. You might also vaguely remember that Project Zomboid - an isometric zombie survival game - has been around on Steam for a long time. In fact, it was all the way up at #4 in the Steam charts earlier this month, sandwiched between Monster Hunter Rise and the new Five Nights At Freddy's game. Some of you may be aware that suddenly, we're seeing a game called Project Zomboid in the Steam Top 10-grossing games of the week. The GameDiscoverCo game discovery newsletter is written by 'how people find your game' expert and GameDiscoverCo founder Simon Carless, and is a regular look at how people discover and buy video games in the 2020s.
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