When Borderlands 3 was announced as an Epic Store exclusive, fans of the franchise were outraged to say the least.
The Epic Games Store isn’t exactly the most popular place for PC games right now, with gamers threatening to boycott the storefront should a developer decide to publish their game with Epic.
However, it looks like being an Epic exclusive hasn’t hurt Borderlands 3’s launch, at least according to Gearbox top dog, Randy Pitchford.
Pitchford tweeted about the PC version of the game: “Fun Fact: On PC, the data is that the launch day peak concurrent players of Borderlands 3 is about *twice-as-high* as the all time peak concurrent players of Borderlands 2. WOW! You guys are great!”
Digging a little deeper, Twitter user ActuallyARaptor responded: “If we go by the all-time peak of BL2 on steam, that’s 123,596. And if BL3 doubled that, it gives them 247192 peak players right. Which to me isn’t impressive at all for a game as hyped as BL3, compare it to MHW delayed steam release, coming in at 329,333 peak players.”
I mean, if we go by the all-time peak of BL2 on steam, that's 123,596. And if BL3 doubled that, it gives them 247192 peak players right. Which to me isn't impressive at all for a game as hyped as BL3, compare it to MHW delayed steam release, coming in at 329,333 peak players.
— Actuallyaᚱᛅᛒᛏᚬᚱ (@actuallyaraptor) September 16, 2019
So, how’s Borderlands 3’s exclusivity affected the game during launch week? Well…it’s a hard question to answer.
Admittedly these numbers don’t really say too much about BL3. It’s the first new game in the franchise in seven years and it’s a brand-new launch, so obviously it’s going to have more players than its predecessor.
So far, the game has lower user scores on PC than Borderlands 2 did, but then a lot of that is down to review bombers.
Without being able to see how the game would have performed on Steam, it’s going to be next to impossible to definitively say just how the Epic exclusivity has affected the sales.
One thing’s for certain: players are still p*ssed about the Epic Games Store.
Featured Image Credit: Gearbox