Half-Life Alyx Surpasses 40,000 Concurrent Players On Launch Day

jetsetrez · Mar 25, 2020

I'm trying not to watch a lot of this on Twitch, because the half hour or so I've watched of it looked absolutely stunning in terms of moment to moment creativity, visuals, atmosphere, immersion, etc. I'm really hoping to pick this and an Index up after I'm done with school.

I will say as a huge fan of the Half-Life series and the mystique of the franchise, I am a little sad that the success of the game is restricted by its hardware requirements, though, because it would've been really cool to see how huge a "Half-Life 3" would've been, especially if it were also a PS5/XSX launch title, reasserting itself as the preeminent FPS after a 13 year hiatus. I imagine the launch concurrent would have been astronomical, like 15-20x this figure on Steam alone, maybe even as high as 1m, as well as the biggest numbers for each of the consoles at launch (unless maybe Halo Infinite is an XSX launch title).

I guess being the standard bearer for new technology breakthroughs in gaming is still a worthy distinction for the series.

Trace · Mar 25, 2020

jetsetrez said:
I'm trying not to watch a lot of this on Twitch, because the half hour or so I've watched of it looked absolutely stunning in terms of moment to moment creativity, visuals, atmosphere, immersion, etc. I'm really hoping to pick this and an Index up after I'm done with school.

I will say as a huge fan of the Half-Life series and the mystique of the franchise, I am a little sad that the success of the game is restricted by its hardware requirements, though, because it would've been really cool to see how huge a "Half-Life 3" would've been, especially if it were also a PS5/XSX launch title, reasserting itself as the preeminent FPS after a 13 year hiatus. I imagine the launch concurrent would have been astronomical, like 15-20x this figure on Steam alone, maybe even as high as 1m, as well as the biggest numbers for each of the consoles at launch (unless maybe Halo Infinite is an XSX launch title).

I guess being the standard bearer for new technology breakthroughs in gaming is still a worthy distinction for the series.

I think you're probably overselling how much Half Life would mean to a PS5/XSX gamer.

TheUnseenTheUnheard · Mar 25, 2020

ghostcrew said:
Ok, ignore what I said earlier I guess. Considering Beat Saber can also be bought/played via the Oculus Store, it's clearly still had the highest concurrent players.

Beat Saber also doesn't cost 60 dollars though.

Jekked · Mar 25, 2020

Wow. That's a lot! Well deserved.

Spark · Mar 25, 2020

ghostcrew said:
Ok, ignore what I said earlier I guess. Considering Beat Saber can also be bought/played via the Oculus Store, it's clearly still had the highest concurrent players.

That Beat Saber figure was aparently a glitch, the real beatsaber figure is like 10k concurrent

poptire · Mar 25, 2020

I'll pick it up this weekend. Watched a friend play for about an hour and was enthralled.

Left 4 Dead VR when?

jetsetrez · Mar 25, 2020

Trace said:
I think you're probably overselling how much Half Life would mean to a PS5/XSX gamer.

You really think a new Half-Life game with a 90+ Metacritic as a launch title would not be huge? Orange Box sold 3m in its first year of release and that was three years after HL2 came out. Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 both sold 3m each on Xbox 360 alone. Also I hear console gamers like scifi first person shooters.

And you know the hype would be immense for a legendary franchise coming back after 13 years, on the platforms people have or would be getting soon.

big_z · Mar 25, 2020

End of the day if this moves the needle for VR becoming more mainstream then it's done what it needs to.

Bruceleeroy · Mar 25, 2020

Trace said:
I think you're probably overselling how much Half Life would mean to a PS5/XSX gamer.

What? It would be huge. Orange Box was a huge success and it was like 3 years after the fact

mxbison · Mar 25, 2020

Thats awesome, more people getting into VR every day.

You have to try it to understand it, videos and reviews mean nothing.

TheUnseenTheUnheard · Mar 25, 2020

big_z said:
End of the day if this moves the needle for VR becoming more mainstream then it's done what it needs to.

If only Oculus put their games on all storefronts. I think if people saw Alyx and all of Oculus' quality games together on Steam there would be a greater case for them to buy into VR.

I think it's unlikely that big PC gamers find out about Oculus titles unless they go out of their way. If they were on Steam things would be different I think.

Hugare · Mar 25, 2020

I'm so glad, but at the same time I'm so sad

Sometimes I want to forget that this game even exists

One dollar is the equivalent of 5 brazilian reais. So a Valve Index setup would cost me R$ 5.000,00.

Yeah, that's insane. Not even mentioning the cost to build a gaming PC, which would end up being another 5 grand.

I look forward to play this entry on my favorite franchise 10 years from now :(

Anyway, that's great news. We will sure have HL3 in VR

MisterAnderson · Mar 25, 2020

Wish I was one of those numbers. Gotta wait on my index.

ArcLyte · Mar 25, 2020

SofNascimento said:
I can only wish all the best for Alyx. I also wish it's the last Half Life game on VR.

I don't want to play another Half-Life game that's NOT in VR

finalflame · Mar 25, 2020

SofNascimento said:
I can only wish all the best for Alyx. I also wish it's the last Half Life game on VR.

It won't be, chief.

Oghuz · Mar 25, 2020

It's cool to see VR getting bigger. I've never tried it but I really want to some day. Hopefully Sony will make VR games of this level for the PS5. Games like Astrobot are nice and all, but that is not the type of game I would buy a pricey hardware for. But HL: Alyx? Now for that I would.

Chasing · Mar 25, 2020

Very, very nice. It won't be anytime soon, but I'm very much looking forward to the moment I can play this for myself.

Richardi · Mar 25, 2020

SofNascimento said:
Which means two things: The next Half Life game will be in VR.

OR.

The next Half Life game will not be in VR.

That is, assuming there will be another Half Life game.

Watch HL3 be an AR game.

Taffy Lewis · Mar 25, 2020

Schlorgan said:
Those numbers weren't great for Red Dead 2. These numbers for Half-Life are very good for a VR game.

Red Dead Redemption 2 wasn't just on Steam, though. It was on Epic and Rockstar launcher as well. So those numbers really aren't comparable.

Taffy Lewis · Mar 25, 2020

Quample said:
They can't be much clearer that Half Life has always been about pushing technological innovation

I really dislike this retcon, it seems like a PR line/explanation they came up with recently to sell their latest VR game to me.

Kiekura · Mar 25, 2020

That is huge

Trisc · Mar 25, 2020

SofNascimento said:
I can only wish all the best for Alyx. I also wish it's the last Half Life game on VR.

I hope not. To go back to 2D would be a regression for Half-Life. This is the technological innovation Valve wanted (and waited) for the series to evolve.

Half-Life was about a developing narrative in an unbroken game world, where instead of "levels" broken up by stat screens and "you are now here" a la Doom, you'd walk through an area to find yourself in a new "chapter".

Half-Life 2 took it a step further. Motion capture, realistically animated faces, and a physics engine that gave objects a real sense of weight and presence in the world.

Alyx went further still. Full performance capture, an environment you can reach out and "touch", objects that spill out of the way as you strike them with your hands or tools, and unprecedented interactivity with the world as well as objects and characters within it. It's hard to describe how much of a game changer Alyx is not just for Half-Life, but for VR as a platform.

And through it all, Half-Life never lost the "unbroken game world" that was so integral to the original game. Hell, Alyx even shows you a map showing the path you've followed through the story. It really is incredible how much the game remains connected to its roots while still evolving in meaningful ways.

Deleted member 21996 · Mar 25, 2020

mxbison said:
You have to try it to understand it, videos and reviews mean nothing.

Never a truer word said. It saddens me to hear people with no VR experience forming opinions based on a video. It doesn't remotely convey the experience of being inside the game world, something only a headset can provide.

dex3108 · Mar 25, 2020

It also has 97% Positive reviews out of almost 8K reviews.

Jegriva · Mar 25, 2020

In a way, a testament of the strength of Hal-Life, in another sense a testament to the low penetration of VR in gaming so far.

FloatingDivider · Mar 25, 2020

I dno I guess these are good numbers for a VR game but for a Half Life title they're kind of bad. I honestly feel like valve has become a provider of niche experiences for tech journos and people with a lot of expendable income. I mean it seems like a revolutionary experience for the 2% of their userbase with the hardware required but for everyone else it might as well be a wet fart. Call me back when VR headsets are actually affordable enough that there's an install base outside of early adaptors.

pswii60 · Mar 25, 2020

etta said:
That sounds insane... Red Dead 2 got to, what, 35,000 in the first 24 hours?

If we're doing random comparisons to non-VR games, then Doom Eternal got to 100,000 in the first 24 hours.

RDR2 launched a whole month later on Steam compared to Rockstar Launcher and Epic Games Store, hence its low concurrent Steam user numbers.

40,000 is really impressive for a VR game. And this is a VR game that will have real legs.

Deleted member 2834 · Mar 25, 2020

jetsetrez said:
I am a little sad that the success of the game is restricted by its hardware requirements, though, because it would've been really cool to see how huge a "Half-Life 3" would've been, especially if it were also a PS5/XSX launch title, reasserting itself as the preeminent FPS after a 13 year hiatus. I imagine the launch concurrent would have been astronomical, like 15-20x this figure on Steam alone, maybe even as high as 1m, as well as the biggest numbers for each of the consoles at launch

Why would you care about this?

Deleted member 11370 · Mar 25, 2020

Jaded Alyx said:
This figure will be downplayed.

Again.

What has been the population of the Earth since the beginning of time?

Now what percent of those people have VR, let alone have played Alyx?

There you go.

/s, obviously.

Quample · Mar 25, 2020

Taffy Lewis said:
I really dislike this retcon, it seems like a PR line/explanation they came up with recently to sell their latest VR game to me.

I don't get what else the reason would be, especially after playing the game. Multiple Valve employees said it pretty off-hand, like the interview with Geoff Keighly they agreed that they felt the expectations would never be satiated with a standard game at this point because their past ones always brought something new to the table. VR is innovative tech. Valve said they like doing innovative things with Half Life (and most would agree that this is readily apparent). Valve made Half Life in VR because they wanted to innovate. Hard to find a sensible crack in those premises.

jetsetrez · Mar 25, 2020

Imp the Dimp said:
Why would you care about this?

Because I like Half-Life and think it deserves success.

Taffy Lewis · Mar 25, 2020

Quample said:
I don't get what else the reason would be, especially after playing the game. Multiple Valve employees said it pretty off-hand, like the interview with Geoff Keighly they agreed that they felt the expectations would never be satiated with a standard game at this point because their past ones always brought something new to the table. VR was the reason Half Life was made. VR is innovative tech. They said they like doing innovative things with Half Life. Hard to find a sensible crack in those premises.

It speaks more to Valve being dysfunctional from the inside and them trying to paper over this. Half-Life 3 isn't they only sequel they never produced.

Cheesetriangles · Mar 25, 2020

dex3108 said:
It also has 97% Positive reviews out of almost 8K reviews.

Wonder if this is the highest rated Steam game ever? Thankfully you need to own it to post reviews otherwise I bet it would look a lot different.

dex3108 · Mar 25, 2020

sueil said:
Wonder if this is the highest rated Steam game ever? Thankfully you need to own it to post reviews otherwise I bet it would look a lot different.

Well things are good even on Metacritic User reviews.

Half-Life: Alyx

Half-Life: Alyx for PC game reviews & Metacritic score: Half-Life: Alyx is Valve's VR return to the Half-Life series. It's the story of an impossible fight against a vicious alien race known as the Combine, set betwe...

www.metacritic.com

Iron Eddie · Mar 25, 2020

Valve is one of the few willing to take a risk, I wish more would do that (in order for VR to reach a wider audience) but I fully understand not everyone is financially able to.

Mbolibombo · Mar 25, 2020

Depending on the context:
Big for VR games I guess.
Not so much for a brand new Half Life game

Currently not even in the top 75 currently played though :P

Game looks genuinely great, wish I could play it.

Mendrox · Mar 25, 2020

Taffy Lewis said:
It speaks more to Valve being dysfunctional from the inside and them trying to paper over this. Half-Life 3 isn't they only sequel they never produced.

Man I can't... even back then that was their philosophy with Half Life so I wasn't surprised for that long wait. Also the didn't want to build a game when the new engine is not even finished unlike Half Life 2.

Shantom · Mar 25, 2020

sueil said:
Wonder if this is the highest rated Steam game ever? Thankfully you need to own it to post reviews otherwise I bet it would look a lot different.

71st and rising as more reviews come in according to https://steam250.com/

Sloane · Mar 25, 2020

sueil said:
Wonder if this is the highest rated Steam game ever? Thankfully you need to own it to post reviews otherwise I bet it would look a lot different.

https://steamdb.info/stats/gameratings/

Right now it's at ~45. Bit of a weird list except for maybe the top 10 though. (A Hat in Time, really?)

Launchpad · Mar 25, 2020

SinCItyAssassin said:
It beats the previous record for concurrent player peak (Beat Saber had 42,095, launch window on the Oculus Quest in July 2019) by less than 800 players.

That Beat Saber number has been confirmed to be incorrect. It was due to a bug in SteamVR tracking in July 2019. I believe the devs said the real peak is around 10k, and that might be across all platforms because Steam is only 4k.

noyram23 · Mar 25, 2020

Jaded Alyx said:
Huh?

Drinking + small mobile keyboard isn't a good mix. Basically we're in locked down this month so i can't buy the valve vr needed and was hoping that they will consider releasing the game on other headset like psvr2 if that ever happens

Abdulrahman · Mar 25, 2020

I wonder how many of them don't even have a VR set to play the game...

GrrImAFridge · Mar 25, 2020

Abdulrahman said:
I wonder how many of them don't even have a VR set to play the game...

Attempting to run the game without a VR headset just gets you as far as SteamVR exiting with an error message saying it couldn't detect a compatible device, so for such users to count as players, they'd have to leave said error window open. While I'm sure some who bought the game in anticipation of owning a VR headset in the near future did try their luck, I can't imagine they left it running in the background, as the SteamVR equivalent of nosoupforyou.gif is literally all there is to see on a VRless system.

Celine · Mar 25, 2020

For a VR game.

We will know that VR has broke out at mainstream level when that disclaimer won't be needed anymore.

FeD · Mar 25, 2020

jetsetrez said:
I'm trying not to watch a lot of this on Twitch, because the half hour or so I've watched of it looked absolutely stunning in terms of moment to moment creativity, visuals, atmosphere, immersion, etc. I'm really hoping to pick this and an Index up after I'm done with school.

I will say as a huge fan of the Half-Life series and the mystique of the franchise, I am a little sad that the success of the game is restricted by its hardware requirements, though, because it would've been really cool to see how huge a "Half-Life 3" would've been, especially if it were also a PS5/XSX launch title, reasserting itself as the preeminent FPS after a 13 year hiatus. I imagine the launch concurrent would have been astronomical, like 15-20x this figure on Steam alone, maybe even as high as 1m, as well as the biggest numbers for each of the consoles at launch (unless maybe Halo Infinite is an XSX launch title).

I guess being the standard bearer for new technology breakthroughs in gaming is still a worthy distinction for the series.

So you talk about hardware requirements and then suggest it as a launch title on next gen consoles.. which are also hardware requirements to play it.

notBald · Mar 25, 2020

Taffy Lewis said:
Red Dead Redemption 2 wasn't just on Steam, though. It was on Epic and Rockstar launcher as well. So those numbers really aren't comparable.

Wasn't Red Dead also 2 years old? That likely has an impact.

Cheesetriangles · Mar 25, 2020

notBald said:
Wasn't Red Dead also 2 years old? That likely has an impact.

1 year.

Shadow · Mar 25, 2020

Awesome. That's definitely good! You can't really compare a double exclusive to regular games. Of course something that doesn't require something is more popular.

Can't wait to see what Valve puts out next and I'm sure this will push more devs to aim for full fledged VR games that take complete advantage of what VR has to offer.

Jaded Alyx · Mar 25, 2020

noyram23 said:
Drinking + small mobile keyboard isn't a good mix. Basically we're in locked down this month so i can't buy the valve vr needed and was hoping that they will consider releasing the game on other headset like psvr2 if that ever happens

Just FYI, you don't need the "valve vr" (Index) to play this

noyram23 · Mar 25, 2020

Jaded Alyx said:
Just FYI, you don't need the "valve vr" (Index) to play this

I was used to quest exclusivity that I forgot, I got a 2nd gen rift, it's shitty though. Does it need something for hand controller thingu or can I use a standard controller?

Half-Life Alyx Surpasses 40,000 Concurrent Players On Launch Day

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