Update [Mon 19th May 2025, 1:15pm]: DOOM: The Dark Ages failed to get any real bump of players on Steam over the weekend, with its highest peak managing just 31,470 on Saturday – just 600 more than its previous high on launch day.
It should be reiterated yet again that concurrent players do not directly correlate to sales, although usually a game that achieves a high number of users tends to be successful, like the recent Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
It’s led to an inquest from fans about what exactly has gone wrong, with some pointing to the title’s high price and others referencing the busy release schedule.
We’ll need to wait for more information from Bethesda, of course, but right now it doesn’t look like The Dark Ages has set the world alight.
Original Story: DOOM: The Dark Ages hasn’t exactly got off to the strongest start if its Steam concurrent numbers are to go by.
While the metric only gives us a small slice of the release’s overall performance, it’s currently topped out at 30,802 players, with the number looking unlikely to increase significantly over the weekend.
To put things into perspective, predecessor DOOM Eternal peaked at 106,891 players, so more than three times what id Software’s latest has achieved.
There are caveats to consider, though: The Dark Ages is available through Xbox Game Pass, which could have pulled players away from Steam. Although it’s worth mentioning that both Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered are both also available in Microsoft’s subscription service, and have significantly more players than DOOM.
It’s also possible, of course, that the game may be selling better on consoles, and it’s currently third on the PS Store’s best-sellers list, behind only NBA 2K25 and Fortnite. But given the series’ history on PC, it seems unlikely for the PS5 version to be selling significantly better.
Of course, all of this has led to an inquiry into exactly what’s gone wrong. The game obviously has strong reviews – we awarded it an 8/10 – but some have pointed out there have simply been too many good games releasing recently for fans to keep up.
Others have referred to the game’s high price point, noting that $69.99 is a lot to pay for a single player first-person shooter these days, irrespective of its quality.
Either way, we need a lot more information than just Steam concurrents before we can pass any definitive judgment on DOOM: The Dark Ages’ first week performance. It does seem like it’s off to a slower start than expected, though.
[source steamdb.info]
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As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.