Naraka: Bladepoint was released in 2021 as a unique take on battle royal games. Instead of the traditional focus on first-person or third-person shooter gameplay, it offered melee-focused combat.
This led to the game selling over 6 million copies, allowing it to stand out from other offerings of the genre. Following this success, Naraka: Bladepoint has broken its previous Steam concurrent player count record.
The game has recently hit peak player counts of over 260K.
Why it matters: Naraka: Bladepoint was released as a pay-to-play game. However, the genre was dominated by free-to-play titles, and the game’s recent success highlights the benefits of this approach.
As stated earlier, Naraka: Bladepoint was not released as a free-to-play title. While the game reached millions of players, it did not measure up to the success of games like Fortnite and Apex Legends.
Therefore, the studio appears to have changed its approach. On July 13, the game finally opted for a free-to-play model, leading to thousands of new players trying the melee-focused battle royal.
As such, the number of concurrent Steam players peaked at 264,406. This happened within two days of the game going free-to-play, with the surge in players highlighting the motivation behind the industry’s efforts to pursue a free-to-play model.
Despite being overshadowed by various other games, Naraka: Bladepoint is currently the fifth most-played game on Steam, beating popular titles like Team Fortress 2 and GTA 5.
Therefore, this move has been a massive success for the studio.
Naraka: Bladepoint is not the only battle royal game to have shifted direction after being released as a pay-to-play title. PUBG was among the most popular offerings of the genre, and it followed a similar trend, eventually going free-to-play.
The newfound interest in the game should allow the developers to continue supporting Naraka: Bladepoint for several more months as new and returning players enjoy the melee-focused battle royal.
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