The fifth iteration of Codemasters' racing game franchiseGRIDarrived just over a week ago, launching on PC, as well as PlayStation and Xbox consoles.GRID Legendsadvertised an authentic racing sim experience replete with over 130 tracks including off-road, street circuit, and arena venues. It’s described as the most robustGRIDexperience yet, but something appears to have been lost in publisher Electronic Arts' messaging. Early numbers from Steam showGRID Legendsis not off to a particularly successful start.
Tracking concurrent player count on Steam for new game releases has been an increasingly popular way of measuring a new game’s success.GRID Legends' launchwas no different, only the numbers discovered were unfortunate in the extreme. According to SteamdB,GRID Legends' peak concurrent players since it launched reached just 455 players. If it wasn’t obvious, that’s a strikingly low number of players, particularly for a major racing brand from a publisher like Electronic Arts.
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For comparison’s sake,GRID Autosport’s peak concurrent players on Steam eight years ago was 3,554.GRID 2, which launched in 2013, actually had a resurgence three years ago and peaked at 27,339. Even the originalGRIDhad a modern surge, peaking at 4,823 players five years ago. Even theGRIDfranchise’s least-popular release,GRID Autosport, saw a peak of ten timesGRID Legends' launch peak. Something appears to have gone very wrong.
It’s unclear what could have led toGRID Legendshaving such a poor adoption rate at launch. The racing game did get a surge of attention onTwitchduring its launch week, with over 14,000 viewers watching it at one point. Reviews forGRID Legendsaren’t outstanding, but they line up with scores forGRID 2andGRID Autosport. By all means,GRID Legendsshould have been successful given the semi-recent surges in popularity of bothGRIDandGRID 2.
What could have gone wrong is that marketing forGRID Legendsmay have been very ineffective. After all,GRID Legendslaunched just as bothHorizon Forbidden WestandElden Ringarrived, never mindGran Turismo 7’s recent launch. The news cycle has also been dominated by the conflict in Ukraine, leading many companies, including Nintendo, to drawback marketing.
Steam is, of course, just one storefront on one platform. It’s entirely possible, and more than likely, that it’s performing more strongly on PlayStation andXbox consoles. Even if it is, however, a peak of just 455 players on Steam can’t be seen as anything less than a huge disappointment.
GRID Legendsis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
