Street Fighter 6 has already broken a record on Steam, KO'ing Mortal Kombat
Just in case there was any doubt about how much anticipation there is for Street Fighter 6, the game has set new records on PC to prove it.
Street Fighter is finally big on PC. The release of Street Fighter 6 has not only demonstrated that to be the case, it also showed that the long-running fighting game series is capable of outselling even the most popular fighting games on Steam.
The fighting game scene on PC has never really been massive, at least when you look at the different games' Steam numbers at launch and beyond. The only major player in the space has, unsurprisingly, been Mortal Kombat - but NetherRealm's reign is seemingly over.
Having debuted less than 24 hours ago, Street Fighter 6 is now firmly Steam's most played fighting game ever, having peaked at 65,873 concurrent players (via SteamDB). Even setting aside the potential for the player base to grow further throughout the day, and over the weekend, this is already a new record for the series.
More importantly, it overtook Mortal Kombat 11's 35,147 peak concurrent, which the NetherRealm game set at its launch in 2019. Setting aside free-to-play hits like MultiVersus with its massive 153,433 peak concurrent, Street Fighter 6 is far and away the most popular premium fighter ever on the platform.
At the time of writing, 45,508 players are currently discovering the silly wonders of World Tour mode, duking it out online against other players, or simply having some friendly matches against local players. That's enough to land it at number 13 on Steam's charts, and it's already the top-selling paid game on the platform.
With its modern controls, a suite of modes for players of all skills to enjoy (something Street Fighter 5 severely lacked), and a modern visual style that strikes a balance between realism and graphical fidelity - Street Fighter 6 always looked well-positioned to change things forever for the series, and the fighting game genre as a whole.
Find out why this is a revolutionary fighting game in Alex's Street Fighter 6 in-depth review at the link.