Phantom Blade Zero peaks at 431,541 players on Steam at launch

S-Game’s wuxia action RPG Phantom Blade Zero launched on October 28 and drew a peak of 431,541 concurrent players on Steam, according to SteamDB figures cited by Eurogamer. At the time of Eurogamer’s report it was Steam’s second most-played game, behind only Counter-Strike 2, and it led the global top sellers chart. Early Steam user reviews averaged Mostly Positive.

Sales, patch and difficulty

S-Game has not published sales numbers. Alinea Analytics analyst Rhys Elliott estimated 850,000 copies sold across PC and PlayStation 5 just before launch, and said sales on Tencent WeGame in China push the total well above 1 million. Elliott had earlier put Steam sales at 500,000, with 80,000 of those coming after reviews went up two days before release.

The game has a 145GB install size, and a day-one patch adds another 5GB. According to the developer’s Steam post, as reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, the update improves ray tracing and path tracing performance and includes several bug fixes. The team also says it refined the rasterized visuals so environments hold to the art direction with ray tracing off, and that the game should run on mid-range and lower-end PCs and handhelds. Rock Paper Shotgun noted that some players were reporting problems on the game’s discussion page.

The studio also flagged performance instability with Nvidia’s 621.01 driver. It recommends driver 617.42, installed cleanly, until Nvidia ships its next update, which the studio expects soon.

On difficulty, GamesRadar+ points to three settings for a first playthrough: Wayfarer (easy), Pathbreaker (normal) and Hellwalker. A permadeath challenge mode unlocks after the first run. Enemies do not respawn, and boss fights have reload points at different phases. Game director and S-Game CEO “Soulframe” Liang said the studio wants “as many people as possible to have fun, unwind, and enjoy the experience, while offering an extra rush of adrenaline to those who seek a challenge.”

A $599 pair of glasses

Viture has also released Phantom Beast, a special edition of its Beast XR glasses made with S-Game, on sale for $599 on Viture’s website as of October 30. It keeps the standard Beast’s 3DoF tracking and optics, and adds a new color scheme, metal temple decals modeled on the game’s Soul Blade, and a metal-and-leather case that “unsheaths.” The bundle includes a Mó Sanguine Blade replica, a lens cloth and a sticker set.

The glasses show a virtual screen equivalent to 174 inches, with 1200p per eye, a 120Hz refresh rate and 1,250-nit peak brightness. Connecting to a PS5 requires a separate $29 cable.

Why it matters

The launch numbers put the game well behind Black Myth: Wukong, another Chinese-developed action title, which peaked at 2,415,714 concurrent Steam players in 2024 and is estimated to have sold more than 30 million copies. Elliott said he does not expect Phantom Blade Zero to reach that level, but predicts strong sales this year regardless. Eurogamer suggests word of mouth could lift the player count above 500,000 by the weekend.

Reception is not uniform. In Eurogamer’s review, Emma Kent criticized a lack of polish and boss fights that break the pace, while praising the swordplay and combat.

What we don’t know yet

S-Game has not confirmed sales figures, so all totals so far are analyst estimates. Whether the day-one patch resolves the problems some players have reported is also unclear, since no patch notes were published.