Elden Ring Nightreign: 2 Million Sales in 24 Hours, Yet Divided Reception on Steam

The commercial success of Elden Ring Nightreign is widely recognized, having sold over 2 million copies worldwide within just 24 hours, as reported by Bandai Namco and FromSoftware. This achievement is noteworthy, especially considering that the title diverges from the conventional framework of the franchise. However, it is important to note the mixed critical and community reception. On Steam, the game currently has an average rating with approximately 65% positive reviews based on over 14,000 critiques. Critics point out several issues, including the lack of a duel mode, a challenging solo experience, ergonomic problems, and poor PC optimization, particularly for ultra-wide screen setups.

Despite these reservations, the numbers indicate otherwise. According to SteamDB, Nightreign has reached a peak of 313,593 concurrent players on Valve’s platform, making it FromSoftware’s second best PC launch after the original Elden Ring. Even three days post-release, the game continues to be one of the most played titles on Steam with approximately 250,000 simultaneous players—a clear sign of sustained engagement despite criticism. For context, this performance exceeds twice the peak player count recorded by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and surpasses recent releases such as Stellar Blade or Dragon’s Dogma II. The Elden Ring brand maintains a significant draw that its mechanics alone cannot diminish.

In response to this mixed yet committed reception, FromSoftware acted swiftly. Patch 1.01 rectified several blocking bugs and initiated the first balancing work on random enemies and bosses. Behind the scenes, the studio is also working on adjusting the matchmaking and reportedly considering adding a co-op mode, which the game currently lacks.