Special Report (PXL)
GRANT BRICKMAN: Phantom Blade Zero is out, Steam is crowded, and your SSD is about to get a talking-to.
GRANT BRICKMAN: We interrupt this broadcast: Phantom Blade Zero has launched, and Steam is feeling it.
GRANT BRICKMAN: We interrupt your afternoon with a special report. Phantom Blade Zero is out, and the numbers are arriving faster than the download. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Three outlets reported it within the same short window: a Steam peak, a review score and a very large install. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: S-Game, the Chinese studio. Greta, is this the one with the swords? ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Eurogamer calls it a wuxia action game, Grant. Swords are plausible. ▶
GARY: Gary live at the convention hall. IGN says it topped Steam's best-selling chart and peaked at 448,000 concurrent players. Huge spawn rate. ▶
GARY: IGN says that puts it ahead of PUBG and Dota 2 by peak players, behind only Counter-Strike 2. Boss fight rating: five pickaxes. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: IGN adds that PS5 player numbers aren't public, so the total is likely higher. It also led Steam by revenue, ahead of Modern Warfare 4. ▶
KAI: Kai here. GamePro's test gave it 90 points, and it reports an average of 88 on Metacritic. Huge for a launch week. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Kai, how big is this game? Does it come on one disc? ▶
KAI: GamePro says nearly 135 GB on PS5. On PC, about 145 GB free, plus 300 GB of SSD space to install. Huge. Rough on USB-C drives. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: GamePro notes GTA 6 is 210 GB, so this one is large but not the largest. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Now the wording. Eurogamer wrote: "More Chinese success as Phantom Blade Zero enjoys a big launch and becomes one of Steam's most played games." ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: IGN leads with the Steam rank, GamePro leads with the file size. Eurogamer reports 431,541 peak players via SteamDB, IGN says 448,000. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Two numbers for one game. One of them is surely the right one. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Both are reported as peak concurrent players. The articles don't say why they differ. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Free some space, viewers, and we'll bring you more as it comes in. Greta? ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: We'll have to leave it there. Go delete something. ▶