Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is finally out! Though it is still in Early Access, the long awaited sequel (technically prequel) to 2010’s Mount & Blade: Warband broke steam upon release. In fact, it set a record for biggest launch in 2020 on Steam within a few hours after launch. What’s going on?!
What’s Mount & Blade?
Bannerlord is one of the most anticipated games of the decade that you’ve probably never heard of. The Mount & Blade franchise amassed a cult following after 2008’s Mount & Blade. The standalone expansion pack called Warband made the series even more popular, but after that developer TaleWorlds became silent. Some expansions and spin-offs were released before the Turkish company finally announced Bannerlord in 2012.
Tracking dev replies from multiple sources, all in one place. Posts from the developers of Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. The follow-up to 2008's Mount & Blade has made its way to the No.1 spot in the Steam Top Ten. Bannerlord, developer TaleWorlds' sequel, launched at the end of March following a long time in development. The title was announced back in 2012 before a Steam page was created for the game in 2016.
Since then, roughly 8 years ago, fans have been waiting for the next game in the franchise. The unique blend of medieval battle simulation, real-time strategy, a story driven RPG and hack and slash combat finally has a real sequel. Bannerlord takes all of the ingredients of the previous games, but spices them up significantly. And it’s not hard to see why, after such a long period of time, fans of the franchise flocked to Steam to try Bannerlord out themselves.
Breaking Steam
Just how popular is Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord right now? According to the official Mount & Blade Twitter page, the game actually caused Steam to shut down. Apparently the huge virtual store had a momentary overload, though everything seemed to be resolved quickly thereafter.
The game also tops the Global Bestsellers on Steam, beating games like the long-awaited Half-Life sequel, DOOM: Eternal, and even the backbone of the bestsellers list: Grand Theft Auto V. Based on the stats by SteamCharts, almost 210,000 players played Bannerlord concurrently yesterday, making it the biggest Steam release of 2020. It is currently the 4th most played game on Steam, beating juggernauts like GTA V, Rainbow Six Siege, and more than doubling the all-time highest peak of concurrent players of legendary RPG The Witcher 3! Oh, and did we mention it is currently the 3rd most watched game on Twitch too?
#Bannerlord has over 145,000 concurrent players right now. It took 100 minutes to reach 100,000. +1250 reviews on Steam, 88% of them positive, in just 3 hours.
All these numbers make already @Mount_and_Blade II: Bannerlord the biggest launch in Steam in 2020.
THANK YOU
— Mount & Blade (@Mount_and_Blade) March 30, 2020
Still in Early Access
Of course, these numbers are impressive but have to be taken with a grain of salt. Fans have been waiting for so incredibly long; of course they’re going to jump in immediately if they see that it has been released.
Still, not everyone is satisfied with Bannerlord as it is. Of course, the game is still in Early Access, but we know for a fact that it has been in development for at least 8 years. While it has an 82% positive review score on Steam as we speak (based on almost 25,000 reviews) there are a lot of bugs and performance issues that plague the game.
So TaleWorlds, take the victory of setting a record for 2020, you deserve it! Then, gather your war party, sharpen your spears, and keep on shaping one of the most long-awaited sequels of the indie gaming scene. Calradia demands it!
Mount And Blade 2 Steam Api
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is currently out in Early Access on Steam or through the official TaleWorlds website. You can pick the game up for $45,- now, as opposed to the original price of $49.99. The price cut ends on April 13th.
Steam Workshop Mount And Blade 2
Image credit: TaleWorlds