Battlerite Gains 14,000 Players As It Goes Free-To-Play

Update

Since PvP team arena MOBA Battlerite went Free-to-Play last week and we wrote this story, the game's player count has skyrocketed to a peak of around 45,000 Concurrent Players, leaping it to the 11th Most Played Steam Game after ARK: Survival Evolved and above the likes of H1Z1, Civilization V and Rocket League. It would be in the Top 10 were it not for the last minute addition of Football Manager 2018. According to the press release to accompany this, at one point it was the No 3 most watched game on Twitch with 75,000 viewers, beating both DOTA2 and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Considering just before it went F2P Battlerite was sitting at just 400 in-game players, the change is startling - and developer Stunlock Studios couldn't be happier. Peter Ilves, Game Director at Stunlock on Battlerite, had this to say: "We are humbled and grateful to see the overwhelming numbers of players enjoying Battlerite. All our previous game records have been broken and it’s the greatest acknowledgment a developer could ask for. We want to thank our community for all the support and patience throughout the development and the first days post free-to-play launch."

Original Story Follows:

PvP team arena MOBA Battlerite has gone Free-To-Play today, and with that has gone from just 400 concurrent players to well over 14,000, making it the 32nd most played game on Steam - higher than 7 Days To Die, Cities Skylines and Black Desert Online, and just under SMITE, Skyrim and The Witcher 3.

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The move to F2P marks Battlerite's official launch on Steam, whereas previously it was under paid Early Access. It came out in September 2016 to high praise but as of yesterday it hit a low of 196 concurrent players. On the Free-To-Play release that leapt to its current status of 14,722 players, an astonishing increase. In terms of Steam reviews, it's currently sitting on a "Very Positive" rating, with the only negative reviews coming from people who paid for the game in Early Access and are cross that it's now free. Peter Ilves, Game Director at Stunlock Studios, had this to say: “It’s been one hell of a year since we entered Steam Early Access and we can finally deliver on our promise to launch Battlerite as a free-to-play game, making it easily accessible to all PvP arena brawler fans to enjoy. As of today, new players can join the Battlerite community for free in rapid fire, competitive battles requiring to prove your mettle. So jump in and show off your skills on the fighting ground. The arena awaits, brawlers!”

Battlerite is the latest competitor to the mighty DOTA2, and while Battlerite's 14K players seems paltry next to DOTA2's 459K, Battlerite has only just been released. Plus, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds continues to steal players from DOTA2, so having a newcomer like Battlerite coming in too can't help. You can download Battlerite from Steam here.