Players are fleeing Elden Ring: Nightreign. Player count plummeted by 85%

The spin-off Elden Ring: Nightreign, released two months ago, is rapidly losing players. At launch on Steam, concurrent players peaked at 313,000, but now peak counts reach only 45,000–50,000 — an 85% drop.

Despite consistently “very positive” reviews, many point to launch missteps: the lack of full-fledged co-op and high difficulty in solo play drove away a significant part of the audience.

The developers, led by Hidetaka Miyazaki, released a patch that eased solo progression, but it did not stop the outflow. Now the studio's hope is pinned on a “duo mode,” which will be added on July 30. It will allow players to tackle the game in pairs, without the need to assemble trios or rely on random teammates. The goal is to revitalize matchmaking and bring back those who left.

Nightreign has sold 5 million copies, but it is still compared to the original Elden Ring. That version, without new updates and three years after release, consistently maintains more than 47,000 players a day. The new project has not yet managed to replicate such engagement. Whether the co-op mode can turn the tide — time will tell.

***

Cover author: FromSoftware. Cover source: Dualshockers