Returnal is one of Sony’s weakest PC launches so far

With Returnal heading to PC last week, it has unfortunately been one of Sony’s weakest launches so far. 

According to SteamDB, Returnal had under 7,000 concurrent players on Steam during its first weekend. With the game receiving strong reviews when it was originally released for PS5 back in 2021, this news is a shame for Sony. 

Credit: PlayStation

In comparison

However, it is also worth noting that Returnal is a significantly smaller IP compared to other Sony releases such as God of War and Spider-Man. God of War hit 74,000 concurrent players with Marvel’s Spider-Man sitting at 66,000. Other PC ports for Sony such as Horizon Zero Dawn reached 56,000 players. With titles such as these, it is perhaps no surprise that Returnal is struggling to keep up. 

Not every Sony release that comes to PC is successful though. This was seen with Uncharted: The Legacy of Thieves Collection only seeing 10,851 concurrent players in its first weekend. Despite this being a much larger title than Returnal, it still received similar treatment. 

Returnal Synopsis

For those who are interested in this title, Returnal is a third-person shooter that follows the story of Selene. After crash-landing on a shape-shifting world, she must fight for survival across a barren landscape. Each time she is defeated, her journey restarts in what seems like an endless cycle. 

After the game sold around 560,000 copies for Playstation 5 during its first two months, it was eventually marked for PC release in December 2022. Despite the low number of concurrent players, SteamDB reports the game is receiving 78% positive feedback. 

Nevertheless, this is a rare occurrence for Sony IPs. With The Last of Us Part 1 coming to PC on March 28, there is no doubt this much-anticipated release will see a large number of concurrent players. 

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