Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is FromSoftware's biggest Steam launch (that isn't Elden Ring)

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon represents something special for fans of FromSoftware, and anyone with even a passing interest in the rise of the popularity of the Japanese developer. Elden Ring was one of the biggest launches in 2022, so it stands to reason that anything the studio releases afterwards will have a much larger audience potential.

No one expects Armored Core 6 to do Elden Ring numbers, of course, but it's already beating every other game FromSoft released before Elden Ring - at least as far as Steam is concerned. The mech shooter, which launched yesterday, has been gradually climbing through Steam's list of most played games.

At the time of writing this, the game has peaked at 150,959 concurrent players on Steam, according to SteamDB. That's up from a peak of just above 127,000 shortly after launch.

All of this is enough to land Armored Core 6 at number seven on Steam's most played games list, and it could end up closer to the top five as more players pick it up and jump in over the weekend. We've seen that happen with several major launches this year on Steam, most notably Remnant 2, and the juggernaut that is Baldur's Gate 3.

Fires of Rubicon is already Steam's top-seller worldwide, having climbed 14 places just this week. On Steam alone, it is one of the year's biggest launches.

But how does it compare to FromSoftware's past titles? Well, it beats all of them! Before Elden Ring, FromSoft's biggest Steam concurrent player count was achieved by Dark Souls 3, which peaked at 129,975 concurrent players in April, 2016. The only other FromSoft-developed game to break through 100,00 has been Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, with 125,315 concurrent players in March, 2019.

Armored Core 6 easily beats both of them, and is now the second-best, after Elden Ring. It's unlikely to reach that game's staggering 953,426 peak concurrent, though it's certainly going to be interesting to see how close it can get.

If you're among the thousands currently building their dream mechs and getting to grips with the game, we have 13 essential tips for Armored Core newbies that will definitely make your initial start smoother. If you're on the fence, our Armored Core 6 review is well worth a read.

Perhaps being a perfect game for Souls-like fans - despite being a mech shooter and not an action RPG, has something to do with the success of Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, huh.