Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord Is Steam's Biggest Launch Of The Year

After a long seven year wait, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord finally launched on Steam Early Access, and it's already proving massively popular--not just by series standards, but by Steam's own numbers as well. By player count, the medieval action RPG became the biggest new Steam launch of 2020, mere hours after its release.

The sequel's current numbers, according to SteamDB, put it at the #3 game with a 24-hour peak of 219,787, as of March 31. That puts it firmly in Steam's top 10 over the past 24 hours, trailing just behind perennial favorites Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 and beating out massively popular games like Rainbow Six Siege, Grand Theft Auto V, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. For comparison, the last entry in the series, Mount & Blade: Warband, reached a peak of 33,054 back in 2014.

There's been some stiff competition already this year, too. Doom Eternal's player count peaked at 104,891, while Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem hit 127,452. It helps that a lot of people are stuck at home right now, but Mount & Blade II's numbers are impressive, and they're sure to rise throughout the week as more people hop in.

Originally scheduled to release tomorrow, developer TaleWorlds Entertainment decided to launch Mount & Blade II a day early. During its first two weeks on sale, you can purchase it for 10% off, with an additional 10% discount applied if you already own another game in the series.