The PC version of Borderlands 3 seems to be very popular. At the end of last week, Randy Pitchford , CEO of Gearbox, rejoiced that the PC version on the day of the release was about twice as many players as Borderlands 2. The comparison sounded so impressive because it compared Borderlands 3 with the “all time” top score of its predecessor on Steam.
In the Steam charts, Borderlands 2 has a peak of 123,596 concurrent players. Rounding up the whole thing and doubling it, Borderlands 3 should have had around the 248,000 players at the top, since the date refers to the date of publication and in the meantime was the first weekend. Borderlands 3 could have even set a new record for the franchise.
Borderlands 3 can probably build on its market value. The predecessors have long held in the charts, especially the second part, which now has seven years under its belt.
Epic Games Store good or bad?
Add to that the aggressive marketing through the Epic Games Store. There were even crossovers with the million-selling Fortnite and Windows pop-ups promoting Borderlands 3, why shouldn’t it become a success in the Epic Games Store as well? But, there were already criticism in regards to this, as Fortnite can be played by a 12 year old, Borderlands 3 on the other hand, can only be played by an adult (+18).
For many, the Epic Launcher doesn’t appear to be a beneficial. At best, you could argue that Borderlands 3 would have been even more successful on Steam. But these are all speculations. It is clear that Borderlands 3 sells well and you can not easily wipe out the numbers as unrealistic.
