The release of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth on Steam has been a significant milestone, marking one of the biggest launches in the franchise’s history.

The launch of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth has been a massive success for Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, breaking the previous record for the highest number of simultaneous players on Steam. This eighth main entry in the long-standing series offers turn-based RPG combat and open-world exploration, similar to its predecessor, Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

This game was among the most eagerly awaited titles of January 2024, especially due to the excitement surrounding the collaboration of Ichiban Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu as dual protagonists. The anticipation was further heightened by the release of Like a Dragon Gaiden, which set up several plot points for the eighth installment, making it one of the franchise’s most successful Steam launches. While Gaiden was a hit, the release of Infinite Wealth far surpassed the franchise’s previous record for concurrent players on Steam.

What was the Number of Concurrent Players for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth?

According to SteamDB, a database providing statistics and other information about games sold on Valve’s platform, Infinite Wealth reached over 34,000 concurrent players just hours after its release. This achievement ranks the game among the top Like a Dragon titles on the platform. This impressive figure is likely attributed to Infinite Wealth’s global, multiplatform release, contrasting with titles like Yakuza 0 or Judgment, which were ported to Steam years after their initial PlayStation launches.

For context, the previous peak of concurrent players was set by Like a Dragon Gaiden, with nearly 14,000 players at launch, marking a difference of over 20,000 concurrent players between the two releases. This number also exceeded the last mainline game, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which had a peak concurrent count of 9,535 players. Based on these figures, the top five Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio games in terms of concurrent players would be, in order, Infinite Wealth, Gaiden, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Yakuza 0, and Ishin.

The excitement behind the release of Infinite Wealth was well-justified, as the game received highly positive reviews. Fans and critics alike praised its entertaining side content, turn-based combat system, and poignant story featuring both new and familiar faces from the franchise’s history. Despite some pre-launch controversies, such as Sega’s announcement that the New Game Plus mode would be behind a paywall, many are enjoying Ichiban’s open-world Hawaiian adventure.

Source: GameRant