Steam's Latest Breakout Success Sold 250K Copies on Launch Day

Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era converts massive pre-release demand into 250,000 day-one sales, with player concurrency continuing to rise after launch.

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Olden Era Had Lots of Hype

One of the Most-Wishlisted Games in Steam History is Out in Early Access

Following its launch as one of the most wishlisted games in Steam history, Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era is already showing strong early results, selling over 250,000 copies within its first 24 hours.

The figure marks a significant conversion of the game’s pre-release momentum, which saw it surpass 1.5 million wishlists ahead of launch. That interest had already been reinforced by a successful Steam Next Fest demo, positioning the game as one of the most visible strategy releases of the year.

Early engagement metrics suggest that momentum is continuing beyond launch. The game reached a peak of over 50,000 concurrent players on Steam, notably hitting that milestone the day after release just earlier today, indicating sustained player interest rather than a front-loaded spike.

This trajectory aligns with broader trends in Steam discovery, where wishlist volume and demo performance increasingly act as leading indicators for launch success. In Olden Era’s case, both signals translated into immediate sales while also driving continued player activity post-launch.

Initial reception has also been largely positive. I played a little over an hour myself yesterday on Steam Deck, and it ran great. The interface is a bit small for the Steam Deck screen—it definitely will feel better on a proper desktop setup—but having the portable option is great. I just used the right trackpad as my mouse. There's no news on a console version yet, but this early success makes that prospect seem likely.

Early access launches are increasingly judged not just by day-one performance, but by how well engagement sustains in the days immediately following release. Hopefully, an Early Access roadmap will be shown soon to give players confidence in its continued iterations.

Right now, there is only the very beginning of the campaign available, alongside skirmish scenarios and a custom map editor. Granted, for fans of the genre, that's still many dozens of hours of content.