Sons of the Forest: the madness for its launch causes the fall of Steam
Sons of the Forest is the new internet sensation. Its release caused Steam to crash as hundreds of thousands of players tried to download it at the same time.
The video game industry is going from time to time. During the most recent weeks, Hogwarts Legacy stole all the spotlight. However, now it is another game that is breaking the internet; to such a degree that its launch caused the fall of Steam. I am referring, of course, to Sons of the Forest, the sequel to the popular The Forest and one of the year’s most anticipated titles.
The anticipated version of Sons of the Forest was released on February 23, but the number of users interested in downloading it was so immense that Steam could not resist. Valve’s platform was inaccessible for several minutes in various world regions.
Even those who had no interest in Sons of the Forest had their experience impaired while trying to download other games. Steam displayed error messages occasionally, generating impatience and annoyance from some users. Fortunately, the problem did not last too long.
Once Steam fixed its issues, hundreds of thousands of players could download Sons of the Forest and enjoy it. To give you an idea of how wildly anticipated it was, during its first 24 hours of availability, it peaked at 350,000 concurrent users, according to SteamDB data.
As of this writing, more people are playing Sons of the Forest than Hogwarts Legacy. This situation should not surprise us since the Warner Bros. Games title has been on the market for a long time, and some of its audience has already finished it. Consequently, it is normal for players to seek other adventures.
Before its release, Sons of the Forest was already predicted to succeed. For example, it surpassed Starfield in ranking the most desired games on Steam, which is no small achievement.
The hype for Sons of the Forest is no coincidence.
What did Sons of the Forest do to be such a popular game? There are two key factors. First, the predecessor title offers an enjoyable experience, especially in cooperative mode.
On the other hand, it became one of the streamers ‘ favorites to play in the company of other colleagues. Obviously, the above caused many people to know about it and, at a certain point, find out that the sequel was in development.
Most interesting of all, The Forest is a game from 2014. However, it wasn’t until recent years that it became more widely known. It’s one of those lucky cases where a streamer discovers it among Steam’s vast library, and playing it live drives sales exponentially.
But beware, the fact that initially, it did not have so many players does not mean that it was a title of contained ambition. It is a survival experience on an island where every resource you find is essential. To this, we must add a mysterious and supernatural narrative component, which makes The Forest an experience as challenging as it is fun.
Sons of the Forest, for its part, promised to take the playable possibilities to a new level. Also, graphically, it is a game that demands high-end hardware if you want to appreciate its impressive visual display.
