Slay the Spire 2 is already a massive success, as the game opens with "Overwhelmingly Positive" reviews with 5X more CCU than its predecessor.
On Thursday, March 5, we had two major releases: the iconic roguelike deckbuilder Slay the Spire 2 and the stylised extraction shooter, Marathon. And, both games are off to a great start.
The first game is from a small indie studio called Mega Crit, with the latter by a big multi-billion dollar company, Bungie and Sony. And, in terms of concurrent players, Slay the Spire 2 has far exceeded Marathon's numbers, despite minimal marketing compared to the latter.
Slay the Spire 2 launched in early access on PC via Steam. And while the game is not available on consoles, the PC numbers are looking strong as it managed to outperform the first entry by 5x.
As you can see in the above chart, the first game managed to reach a peak player count of 57,025.
Meanwhile, the latest entry, Slay the Spire 2, on the first day of the launch, reached 282,314 CCU, that too in early access.
This is a massive milestone for Mega Crit, as, despite having their game's release on the same day as Marathon, they even outperformed it on PC.
Overall, Marathon and Slay the Spire 2 both had a great launch, and while some players are trying to compare the raw player numbers of the two games to push a narrative that Marathon has "failed" and is "dead on arrival," this is not true.
First of all, both Marathon and Slay the Spire 2 belong to different genres, and we also have to keep in mind that the extraction shooter genre is way too niche and many players are tired of the formula, while the other, the roguelike deckbuilder, has a comparatively bigger and more dedicated playerbase.
Another point is that Slay the Spire 2 is currently only available on PC via Steam, while Marathon is available on all major platforms, including PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Lastly, Marathon is also sitting at 'Very Positive' reviews, and the numbers are expected to go up during the game's first weekend.