Phasmophobia player count triples after Apocalypse update

Phasmophobia's player count has more than doubled after its massive Apocalypse update.

On September 27, Phasmophobia's developers took to Steam to publish a new blog post outlining the hefty update. The Apocalypse update is arguably headlined by the new custom difficulty option for players, as well as brand new areas to explore in the horror game.

The update has led to a massive surge in players for Phasmophobia. According to SteamDB, after posting a peak concurrent player count of 17,157 players the day before on September 26, the following day saw a massive rise to 56,305 players worldwide in conjunction with the Apocalypse update.

In fact, the last time Phasmophobia posted such huge player counts was all the way back in October 2021 with the Halloween update. At the time, the game saw a peak concurrent player count of 69,964 players, which nearly a year removed in September 2022, Phasmophobia is actually coming pretty close to topping at just over 12,000 players short.

Elsewhere in the new Apocalypse update, Phasmophobia's ghosts have been overhauled. A vast number of ghosts in the game have actually had their throwing abilities tweaked to be more impactful, so now you'll really notice when ghosts like the Oni, Demon, and Jinn lob objects around the nearby vicinity.

Finally for major changes, there's also a new reporting system, whereby players can report others through the in-game journal. Phasmophobia players that get reported will then have their cases reviewed and will receive a suspension of either two, seven, or thirty days, and in some cases, the ban might even be permanent. 

Here's why multiplayer horror games are having a moment, all thanks to the tireless work of indie developers.