Skyrim Special Edition is about to beat its concurrent player record 9 years after launch thanks to a huge sale

Skyrim Special Edition is close to topping its peak concurrent player record following an enormous sale that made it cheaper than ever.

It honestly seems hard to believe that there are people out there who don't own Skyrim, but it turns out there are. Or were, anyway. One redditor noticed that Skyrim Special Edition concurrent player count is way up. In the last 24 hours, it hit 59,109, just 10,000 shy of its 69,906 peak from when it launched almost nine years ago. It went on sale for just $3.49 back on January 16, its lowest price ever, which may be responsible for this surge in players. 

That's nothing compared to the 287,411 who played Skyrim when it first launched back in 2011, 14 years ago, but it's pretty impressive for an update that came out five years after the original. Even more impressive are the 6.2 billion mods that have been downloaded by Special Edition players.

The Special Edition contains all the DLC for the base game as well as some enhanced art and effects. It also offers access to the Anniversary Edition which finally added fishing to the game.

My favorite part of the Anniversary Edition is the built-in survival mode that disables fast travel and adds the need to manage your temperature, hunger, and sleep. It makes the game a lot more involved but doesn't add as much as other mods, so it still feels close to the vanilla experience.

Despite how many people are still playing Skyrim, a lot never even finished it, but RPG veteran Josh Sawyer says this doesn't matter because "they still love it." Whenever I restart a Skyrim playthrough I go straight for the Thieves Guild questline, I don't even let those pesky dragons spawn.

While you're here, check out the best Skyrim mods you can install to make the old game more interesting.