Phantom Blade Zero Hits 448,000 Players on Steam in Its First Hours
Only CS2 is safe.
Phantom Blade Zero has only been out for a few hours, and it's already one of the biggest launches of the year. S-Game's wuxia action game hit a peak of 448,000 concurrent players on Steam, behind only Counter-Strike 2, and it's the top-selling game on the platform by revenue (IGN).
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Here's the official launch trailer from the Phantom Blade Zero channel.
How big is the Phantom Blade Zero launch?
It's huge for a brand-new series, since the game passed PUBG and Dota 2 on Steam's most-played chart, and it's outselling the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 by revenue. The real player count is even higher, since the game is also out on PS5 and Sony doesn't share those numbers.
It was estimated to have sold more than 1 million copies before launch across Steam, PS5 and Tencent's WeGame store, and nearly two thirds of those presales came from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Steam user reviews were sitting at 86% positive this morning.
Who voices Soul in Phantom Blade Zero?
That changed right before launch. Jay Maksenuk voiced the hero Soul in the trailers, while the final game swaps in Roger Craig Smith, the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, Ezio Auditore and Chris Redfield (IGN). IGN has asked both actors for comment.
Maggie Robertson, who played Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village, voices Mu Xiaokui. Martial arts legend Donnie Yen worked on the game as a creative consultant and plays Soul's father, Mó Yuan, through full facial, voice and motion capture.
What did the director say on launch day?
Creative director and S-Game CEO Soulframe Liang posted a letter thanking fans, and he said the series started as a student project in RPG Maker called Rainblood: Town of Death. After the first trailer debuted at a PlayStation showcase, the studio canceled other projects to focus on this one, and the team scanned villages across China and trained with sword masters and at Shaolin temples to get the combat right.
My read is that this is the strongest launch for a new action game since Black Myth: Wukong, and IGN gave it a 9 out of 10, so the hype isn't just presales (and the boss fights apparently earn it).
More gaming coverage is right here.
All images are official Phantom Blade Zero screenshots from S-Game.
