In a year with many surprises, from the explosive launches of Palworld, Helldivers 2 and Black Myth Wukong. To explosive debuts that cut through social media noise such as Stellar Blade, and recently Dragon Age: The Veilguard. This year for the gaming world is filled with many genuine surprises that really delighted everyone. That is, until September 24th where Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the long-rumored Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered edition of a widely popular title that is not even a decade old. The announcement was met with a lot of skepticism and negativity, as it was the only surprise of this year that seems as though very few were delighted by.
Fast forward to its launch a few days ago, and it seems as though it not only got overshadowed by Dragon Age: The Veilguard. But debuted to a far lower player count across the board on Steam that paints a clearer picture of the remaster’s general reception.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered Debuting to Just a Few Thousand
In a report from Joel from GameInfinitus, he compared the numbers of both launches. That being the original game’s launch on Steam from 2020, and the numbers of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered as of a few days ago. The results are staggering, with the numbers being in order at the time of writing:
- Concurrent for the remaster is 768, with the original game’s concurrent being 786.
- Peak 24-hour player count for the remaster being 2,383 and the original game’s being 2,872.
- With the all-time peak being 2,528 and the original game’s peak being 56,557.
While this is a very stark contrast. When Horizon Zero Dawn launched on Steam in 2020, it was one of the very first PlayStation Studios games to launch on PC. It was an event that eventually led to almost all of the PlayStation 4’s biggest hits making its way to the platform. Save for titles like Bloodborne, Gravity Rush and The Last of us Part 2. So, when Sony revisits a similar strategy that they pulled off with The Last of us. That being launching a next generation remaster of a game that is not old enough to warrant it. The PC crowd definitely has not felt compelled to upgrade as the PlayStation community has.
But what can be learned from this? The attempt to repeat history is not going in Sony’s favor, at least on PC. Where they have the most room to grow but need to improve on what they offer to that platform. Especially with the forced PlayStation Network login that is locks out hundreds of countries. But have you purchased Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered on PC or PlayStation 5? Are you enjoying your time with it, or has it not delivered? Let us know!
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