Hazelight Studios’ Split Fiction is off to an incredible start, becoming EA’s second-biggest Steam launch ever and leaving It Takes Two in the dust with over 250,000 players at launch.
Hazelight Studios has done it again. Its latest co-op adventure, Split Fiction, is breaking records and setting new standards for EA’s published titles on Steam. Since launching on March 6, the game has skyrocketed past expectations, reaching a massive peak of 254,756 concurrent players on Steam.
That’s more than three times the highest player count ever recorded for Hazelight’s previous hit, It Takes Two, which topped out at 71,039, per SteamDB.
A Huge Milestone for EA and Hazelight
This launch is a big deal for Electronic Arts. With these numbers, Split Fiction now stands as EA’s second-biggest Steam launch of all time, trailing only Apex Legends, which had the advantage of being a free-to-play shooter. For a co-op game, especially one focused on story and unique gameplay mechanics, this level of success is rare.
Critics and players alike have been raving about the game’s fantasy-meets-sci-fi world, its wild mix of level designs, and how it constantly throws new mechanics at players. One moment you’re flying dragons, the next you’re in a dance battle. It’s exactly the kind of creativity Hazelight has become known for, and people are loving it.
It’s not just the player numbers that are impressive. Split Fiction has been pulling in glowing reviews, sitting at 91 on Metacritic, making it the first EA-published game in over a decade to score above 90. The last one to do it? Mass Effect 3 back in 2012.
On Steam, the reception is just as strong. The game kicked off with a 96% positive rating from nearly 500 user reviews on launch day. And now, it jumped to a 98% positive rating from a total of nearly 6,000 user reviews.
As with any big release, Split Fiction hasn’t been without controversy. Some players have criticized the game for being “woke,” pointing to its diverse cast and themes. But director Josef Fares isn’t having any of it.
“What the f*** is this?… I don’t care what you have between your legs, that’s totally not interesting to me. Good characters is what’s important,” he said replying to a fan comment.
