Final Fantasy Resonance just set the record for the most-played single-player Final Fantasy on Steam

Pixel art, big numbers. Final Fantasy Resonance peaked at 42,885 concurrent players on Steam on Sunday, October 25, according to SteamDB. As GamesRadar+ reports, that makes it the most-played single-player Final Fantasy ever on the platform. It just edges out Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s 40,564.

It’s still growing. Most big launches peak on day one, but Resonance didn’t. It opened just short of 28,000 players, which was already Square Enix’s second-best Steam launch for a turn-based RPG after Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. Then it kept climbing through its first weekend. Game*Spark says its Steam user reviews are at 97% positive (“Overwhelmingly Positive”), and producer Keisuke Nakashima and longtime Brave Exvius scenario writer Yukinori Kitajima both posted thanks to players.

The asterisks. Rebirth reached PC almost a year after its PS5 debut, so many of its biggest fans had already played it. Resonance launched on PC and consoles at the same time, which pushed more day-one players to Steam. Final Fantasy XIV is also still the series’ overall Steam champ, with a 95,150 peak around Endwalker, but comparing an MMO with a single-player RPG isn’t really fair. GamesRadar+ expects next April’s simultaneous-launch Final Fantasy VII Revelation to take the crown back.

Catch up: critics liked it too. We covered its 85 Metacritic launch reviews last week. Resonance is out now on PC (Steam and Microsoft Store), PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2 and Switch. Each store has a free demo that includes the whole first chapter.

PPR take: A pixel-art Final Fantasy beating a blockbuster remake on Steam, by word of mouth, in its first weekend. Square Enix should take the hint and keep making HD-2D games.