Armored Core 6 smashes Souls to become FromSoftware’s second-biggest PC launch

Armored Core 6 Fires of Rubicon Assault Boosted its way into the hands of gamers worldwide on August 25. The game has had a stellar opening weekend on PC beating out every Souls title and Sekiro in peak concurrent players.

Armored Core 6’s brand of fast-paced mech action is a bit of a departure from the dark-fantasy RPGs that FromSoftware has peddled to players over the last decade. Still, the satisfying combat, punishing but fair difficulty, and immense joy in overcoming its many challenges bear all the DNA that fans of the developer have come to love.

It’s already being touted as one of the hardest FromSoftware titles to date with many players being walled off by Armored Core 6’s tutorial boss. Players have even been smashing controllers in frustration at the game’s steep learning curve.

Despite that, Armored Core 6 has captivated 156,171 concurrent players in its opening weekend alone according to Steam database. While it hasn’t been able to overcome the prolific success of Elden Ring, it’s beaten out every other FromSoft release on PC to take second place in the developer’s stacked catalog.

Breaking down the success of Armored Core 6

Armored Core 6 has blown past the peak concurrent player count of other recent FromSoftware titles on PC like Sekiro (125,315) and Dark Souls 3 (129,975). It’s likely that the success of Elden Ring has had something to do with this.

Elden Ring is currently the sixth most popular title on Steam of all time according to their own concurrent player count measurements. Capturing a massive 953,426 players at its all-time peak, the iconic game introduced the wider gaming community to FromSoftware’s design philosophy.

Armored Core 6 being the first title from the developer since Elden Ring certainly brought the game a lot of attention. If review scores are anything to go by, FromSoft has definitely proved themselves more than a one-trick pony.

The dedicated fan community of previous Armored Core titles shouldn’t be discounted in the newest entry’s success either. While Fires of Rubicon is the sixth numbered installment in the franchise, veterans of the series have been waiting more than a decade for a new Armored Core and certainly showed up for this one.

Not every fan of the franchise is content with the newest Armored Core of course. Some long-time fans of the series have accused the developer of lying about the game’s similarity to ‘Soulsborne’ games in the lead-up to release, going as far as to call it “Armored Souls”.

Despite that, an overwhelming number of players are quite taken with Armored Core 6 and the game’s unparalleled customization suite. Players have been crafting and sharing their bizarre mechs inspired by gaming icons like the Minecraft Creeper and Pepsi Man among others.

For more on Armored Core 6 Fires of Rubicon, check out our list of guides.
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