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Season 15 of Apex Legends has set a new record for concurrent players, with over 412,000 players logging in yesterday at the launch of the Wintertide event, according to Steam records. This beats the previous record set on the first day of the season, which peaked at 403,517 players, according to Apex Legends Status.
Typically, the season high for Apex Legends in terms of concurrent players is on the first day, when most players are logged on to try out a new character and other new content. However, for season 15, the highest concurrent player mark for Eclipse occurred on the day of the Wintertide event.
Despite player complaints about recolored skins being sold for the same price as new ones, skin bundles, and a perceived lack of excitement for the Winter Express event, many players still logged on to see what the Wintertide event had to offer. As is often the case with season updates and mid-season events, the player peak quickly declined after the first hour or thereabout.
Although Apex players had taken to social media to voice their disappointment with the Wintertide event and the game’s current state, the peak player count is still impressive, beating the previous record of 393,000 concurrent players on Steam which was set at the season 12 update at the beginning of the year. However, subsequent seasons have outperformed both that mark and the current peak for season 15.
This decline in concurrent players may be concerning for Apex, as downward trends are never a good sign for games. Despite the introduction of a new battle royale map in season 15, which typically drives significant interest in a new season, Eclipse has not come close to matching the concurrent player peak on Steam from season 14.
Prior to season 15, Apex had recorded a consistent increase as regards concurrent player count on Steam. According to Steam Charts, each seasonal update brought a new peak, with the height of this increase occurring in the season 14 launch which saw the game peaked at over 500,000 concurrent players. Despite it being almost impossible to ascertain what the numbers could be across all streaming platforms on both PC and console, the game has set records far beyond the 500,000 players milestone.
Season 15 marked a significant dip in Apex Legends’ peak concurrent player count on Steam, with over 100,000 fewer players than the previous season. This marks the first time that the game has seen a decline in peak players on Steam by that much. Season 15 even failed to surpass season 13 numbers, as the latter had garnered a few hundred more players than the former on Steam.
It is not uncommon for Apex’s peak player count on Steam to decrease from one season to the next. However, the dip in player peak and Steam player count in season 15 is notable, given the game’s growth in 2022 and the introduction of a new map. While it is too early to tell whether this is the start of a trend or just a temporary dip, players will have to wait for future seasons to see if the game can regain its former growth.
