Firebreak's player count raises eyebrows - and questions

With FBC: Firebreak, Remedy dipped its toe into the multiplayer pool—and based on the numbers from the first few days, it didn't go particularly well. Players didn't show up, and with a price tag around $35-40 in a genre overflowing with excellent free alternatives, it's not exactly hard to see why.

Many were quick to yell "Concord 2.0!", and at first glance, it really did seem like Firebreak was heading straight for disaster. But despite that, Remedy suddenly claimed that their multiplayer shooter had become a million-player success.

A claim that's raised more than a few sceptical eyebrows. A quick look at SteamDB shows that the game currently has barely 170 active players, with a peak of just under 2,000 about ten days ago. In short—something smells fishy.

Basically, that would mean the game has hundreds of thousands of active players on PlayStation and Xbox—which also isn't the case. So many are now speculating whether these clearly inflated numbers are simply total downloads, possibly even including refunded copies, Game Pass installs, and the like.

Fake it until you... reach your quarterly earnings call.

So far, Remedy hasn't commented on how they reached their numbers. Many believe it's clearly a PR move to satisfy investors and paint a sunny picture over what, on paper, looks like a spectacular flop.

What do you think? Check the numbers for yourself and decide—million-seller or straight-up dud?