Nioh 3 hits a series high player count on Steam, and it’s not even close

Nioh is very much a household name at this point, thanks to Team Ninja doing the business in the first two iterations of the franchise, making them both solid pick-ups if you want a relatively tough game to battle through.

Nioh 3 has seemingly gone a little under the radar in terms of hype, but that certainly hasn’t translated to player counts.

It has actually smashed the series record on the first weekend after launch, peaking at 88,045 concurrent players on Steam.

Nioh 3 has more than doubled Nioh 2’s best-ever concurrent player peak

For context, Nioh 2 – The Complete Edition previously held the franchise record on PC, topping out at 41,325 concurrent players back in February 2021.

So, for Nioh 3 to roll up and post 88,045 on its first weekend is a pretty big statement, and shows that people are definitely invested three iterations in.

The record doesn’t stop at the Nioh series either. Nioh 3 also now holds the highest peak concurrent player count of any Koei Tecmo-published game on Steam, which is pretty incredible when franchises like Dynasty Warriors and Ninja Gaiden are in the publisher’s repertoire.

The previous benchmark was Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, which peaked at 75,906. The game did have some similarities to Nioh, so that may be why new players could have flocked to Team Ninja’s latest release, alongside those who know how good the Nioh series actually is.

As we’re sure you’re aware, concurrent players aren’t everything when it comes to telling you how well polished a game is. Numbers of this ilk can die down in an instant, but when you put these alongside ‘Very Positive’ reviews, you’ve got an indication of whether you should at least try it.

With Nioh 3 smashing not only its own franchise ceiling but also Koei Tecmo’s, it’s a pretty clear signal that the series’ mainstream potential might be bigger than you first thought, and if you haven’t tried the first two, maybe give the whole series a play.