Black Myth: Wukong Steam player count surpasses Palworld as the action RPG surges past Counter-Strike 2 to become Steam's second-biggest game ever

Update: The Black Myth: Wukong player count has continued to climb, with the action RPG now surging into second place in the Steam concurrent player charts.

At time of writing, SteamDB says there are 2.138 million players in-game. That's a little less than 40,000 players ahead of Palworld's all-time peak of 2.101 million, making Black Myth: Wukong the second-biggest Steam game ever, by concurrent players. The action RPG overtook Counter-Strike 2's peak of 1.818 million earlier today, meaning it's still on an impressive climb.

The record remains held by PUBG: Battlegrounds, which set its record of 3.257 million in 2017. A single-player game, Black Myth: Wukong is unlikely to beat that target, but with much of the US yet to wake up, there's still potential for Black Myth: Wukong's count to climb.

Original story: Black Myth: Wukong's player count has surged past that of huge hits like Elden Ring, DOTA 2, GTA 5, and many more on Steam.

Game Science's action RPG only just launched earlier today, and it's already looking like a certified hit on the former platform. According to SteamDB, which tracks statistics like concurrent players throughout the world on Steam, Black Myth: Wukong had a peak concurrent player count of 1,443,570 players earlier today.

That puts it head and shoulders above the peak concurrent player counts of massive games like GTA 5 with 364,548 peak concurrent players, DOTA 2 with 1,295,114 players, Elden Ring with 953,426 players, Cyberpunk 2077 with 1,054,388 peak players, and 2023's smash-hit RPG Baldur's Gate 3, itself with 875,343 peak concurrent players. 

What's more, Black Myth: Wukong has a serious shot at beating this peak concurrent player count that's already set. At the time of writing, Game Science's action RPG is hovering consistently around 1.4 million players at a time when the majority of European players might be working and the vast majority of American players are likely asleep.

It's worth bearing in mind that yes, SteamDB does track players from across China in its statistics. The tracking website said as much in a tweet earlier today, seeming to deliberately coincide with the launch of Black Myth: Wukong, a new game from a Chinese studio.

Our Black Myth: Wukong review called it "a great action RPG that feels like God of War for Chinese mythology," awarding it four out of five stars and praising its fun combat and incredible world and atmosphere. 

You'll want to keep an eye on our Black Myth: Wukong tips guide for nine essential points to remember if you're just starting out your journey.