Facepunch's survival MMO, Rust, has now sold over 12 million copies.
2021 was an "exceptional year" for the game, not only because – seven years after it first launched on PC – the game finally became available for players on console, too. And after a spike in popularity at the start of 2021 that saw record numbers on streaming platforms like Twitch, it's continued to build on its success, with promises of "guaranteed monthly updates every first Thursday of the month" – along with holiday events – throughout 2022.
"2021 was an exceptional year for Rust in almost all regards, after eight years of continuous development, Rust has gone from strength to strength," the team announced on Steam (thanks, PCGN).
"In 2021 Rust blew up on Twitch, we saw record-high player counts, released Voice Props DLC Pack, World revamp, missions, freight trains, underwater labs, gestures, submarines, MLRS and so much more."
Along with selling 12,481,079 copies of Rust since launch, Facepunch also reveal an infographic that gave us insights into other stats, too, including confirmation that over half a million accounts have been banned from servers, 400,000 users are now signed up to Rust's Discord server, and 1.1 million DLC packs have been sold.
It also set a new concurrent peak of players, clocking up an impressive 267,211 simultaneous users earlier this year.
It's been a big year for the game on streaming platforms, too. At one point Rust had 1.37 million simultaneous Twitch viewers, contributing to 1.3 billion views of the game in action overall. According to Facepunch, that means Rust has been watched for over 300 million hours on Twitch, and broadcast by Rust streamers for a total 4.2 million hours.
Rust was first available back in 2013 via Steam Early Access and quickly established an ardent following, despite the game's challenging mechanics. If you're just starting out to see what all the fuss is about, make sure to check out our Rust map guide.
