Slay the Spire 2 Early Access Launch Overwhelms Steam
On March 5 2026 Slay the Spire 2's Early Access release caused big problems for Steam. Just half an hour after launch the huge number of people trying to play led to server issues and payment problems. The game's popularity was way higher than anyone expected for this type of card game sequel.
By the next morning Slay the Spire 2 had a peak of 282,314 players all playing at once. That's way more than other big games that came out around the same time like Bungie’s Marathon and the Poker Night at the Inventory remaster. Here's a comparison of player numbers soon after launch
- Slay the Spire 2 Hit 282,314 concurrent players.
- Marathon Started with 88,337 concurrent players but dropped to around 30,000 in the first 10 hours.
The Steam community seems to really like the game so far. In the first day it got over 6,000 reviews and 97% of players recommend it. People are saying that the sequel does a great job of building on the original game with better depth and more variety.
This successful launch shows how much Mega Crit has grown. Back in 2019 the first Slay the Spire only had 193 players on its first day. The sequel's launch is a huge jump with about a 92,000% increase compared to the first game seven years ago. The studio said that the series has gone from a small indie game to a major player in the roguelike genre.
