Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, an auto shooter based on the world of the original co-op FPS by Ghost Ship Games, has proven to be a surprise hit. And it looks like even the studio itself didn’t expect such a strong player interest.
Launched into Early Access on February 14, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor currently has a “Very Positive” rating on Steam, with 83% of the 6,495 user reviews being positive. Players praised the gameplay, calling it fun and addictive, while also saying that developer Funday Games managed to create a great iteration of the so-called reverse bullet hell / bullet heaven genre popularized by Vampire Survivors.
According to SteamDB, the game has already peaked at 56,943 concurrent players. For comparison, the original Deep Rock Galactic reached its all-time high of 46,687 CCU during a free weekend in November 2022.
Ghost Ship Games CEO Søren Lundgaard was surprised to see such impressive numbers, jokingly saying, “That was not supposed to happen!”
Although the success of the original game definitely contributed to a strong launch, the Survivor spin-off is much cheaper than Deep Rock Galactic. It is currently 10% off at $8.99 (vs. $29.99 for Ghost Ship’s flagship title).
The 56.9k peak also makes Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor the fifth biggest launch of 2024 in terms of concurrent players, ahead of major releases like Tekken 8, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and Persona 3 Reload. The full top 10 can be seen below:
- Palworld — 2.1 million CCU;
- Helldivers 2 — 409k CCU;
- Enshrouded — 160.4k CCU;
- Granblue Fantasy: Relink — 114k CCU;
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor — 56.9k CCU;
- Tekken 8 — 49.9k CCU;
- Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth — 46.1k CCU.
- Persona 3 Reload — 45k CCU;
- Gu Long Fengyun Lu (古龙风云录) — 15.4k CCU;
- Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League — 13.4k CCU.
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor was developed by Funday Games, a Danish indie studio founded in 2011 by Anders Leicht Rohde. The team, which employs around 45 people, has made a couple of LEGO mobile games and also has Early Access co-op RPG Don’t Die In The West in its portfolio, but the Survivor is definitely its most successful release.
It is worth noting that Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is the first game published by Ghost Ship Games through its publishing label launched last year. Funday’s title will be followed by turn-based roguelike SpellRogue, top-down co-op shooter DarkSwarm, and the studio’s own project Rogue Core, another Deep Rock Galactic spin-off (this time in the roguelite genre).
The original game remains one of the main revenue drivers for Ghost Ship owner Coffee Stain and its parent company Embracer Group. Deep Rock Galactic recently surpassed 8 million copies sold globally, also reaching 150k DAU and 1 million MAU on Steam alone.