Despite early technical hurdles and bug reports, the upcoming asymmetric horror game Halloween is already making some noise on Steam. During its paid early access window, the title eclipsed the all-time peak concurrent player count of Friday the 13th: The Game, signaling massive commercial interest ahead of its official wide release on September 8, 2026 across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and Epic Games Store.
Amassing over 2 million Steam wishlists prior to launch, Halloween entered early access under heavy scrutiny. Gamers burn out easily on multiplayer slasher titles, fearing a $40 to $60 price tag might lead to abandoned servers in a matter of months. While Dead by Daylight remains the long-standing king of the genre, players naturally turned to Friday the 13th: The Game as a direct benchmark for new licensed horror entries.
Looking closely at Steam’s concurrent player numbers, Halloween reached an impressive peak of 25,796 concurrent players on its very first day of early access before stabilizing at a strong 16,984 on day two. By comparison, Friday the 13th: The Game managed an all-time peak of 16,096 concurrent players during its peak release month in 2017. This means Halloween achieved a day-one player count roughly 60% higher than Friday the 13th‘s all-time record.
This milestone is even more impressive considering the barrier to entry. Gaining early access required purchasing a $60 edition, whereas Friday the 13th launched at $40 (roughly $54 adjusted for inflation). Despite the higher price point, Halloween drew a significantly larger launch crowd. If the developers quickly patch out early technical bugs and deliver a steady pipeline of post-launch DLC, the game stands a strong chance of outlasting Friday the 13th‘s original three-year run with dedicated servers.