Shroud’s Spectre Divide playercount nosedives with thousands of negative reviews

After a solid start, interest in Shroud’s competitive shooter, Spectre Divide, has fallen off a cliff on Steam, attracting thousands of negative reviews.

Released on September 3 to very little exposure or fanfare, Spectre Divide’s cel-shaded visuals and attempt to deliver divergent mechanics helped to set it apart from genre heavyweights Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant.

At its peak, the game attracted over 30,000 concurrent players but immediately came under fire for what many considered egregious price-gouging. The shooter’s first store bundle was originally listed for $90, with prices cut shortly after by 17% to 25% “across the board.”

It’s impossible to say if the monetization controversy contributed to Spectre Divide’s fall from favor but, as of writing, at least, it sits just above 4,000 concurrent players, with a 24-hour peak of less than 10,000 per SteamDB.

Falls in active players are nothing new in live service games. Initial hype is always followed by a sharp drop-off as curious players move on to the Next Big Thing, but competitive experiences live and die based on audience interest.

Unfortunately for Spectre Divide, its popularity on streaming platforms hasn’t fared much better. From September 22-23, Twitch viewership peaked at just over 2,000 compared to an all-time high of over 80,000.

Steam reviews remain decidedly mixed, with negative feedback blaming performance issues, lack of fun factor and concerns over monetization. Positive reviews still outnumber the former by a healthy amount, but not enough to push the overall reception above Mixed.

As for Shroud, during a September 10 stream, the content creator ragequit a session of Spectre Divide, later deciding to play Deadlock instead. “I feel like this game, Deadlock, changed the way I perceive myself and my peers. Deadlock has twisted my brain,” he said at the time.