Sometimes early access periods for video games can take a game that might not otherwise receive a lot of attention and catapult it into the spotlight. Open alpha and beta stages for games offer eager gamers the ability to play titles in development a bit early in exchange for publicity. Great games have benefitted from this structure in the past, including Hades, 2020's most critically-acclaimed game. One of the latest games to take advantage of the early access format is Valheim, a survival game that has already passed a major sales milestone just over a week post-launch.
Valheim is a survival game steeped in Norse mythology that boasts a procedurally generated world of wonder to explore. Players will take control of a fallen warrior whose soul has been taken to Valheim, the tenth Norse world. Considered by some gamers to be the next big survival game on Twitch, Valheim offers players the ability to build ships and castles, battle various enemies of Odin, and cooperate with up to ten players in PvE play.
Valheim is currently at the top of Steam's Best Seller List just ahead of another survival game, Ark: Survival Evolved. Valheim has already passed the big milestone of one million copies sold in just 8 days. Despite the game still existing in an early access state, gamers looking for the next big survival experience have paid its $20.00 Steam price to play it unfinished. But with nearly 17,000 reviews on Steam averaging overly positive, it looks like most are happy about their purchase.
Twitch streamers are in a position now to influence video game popularity more than ever, and Valheim has definitely benefitted from an active streaming community. Developer Iron Gate claims that Valheim has peaked at over 127,000 viewers on Twitch, with average view rates rising as well. The gaming community has seen just how powerful streamers have become this past year, with games like Among Us and Rust experiencing massive surges in popularity. Streamer Valkyrae's Among Us content helped her become the fastest-growing streamer in the world in 2020, catapulting her views by the millions over the course of the year.
Valheim certainly hasn't hit the same popularity as Among Us or Rust but it still has plenty of time to grow and change. Iron Gate plans to release at least 4 updates for the game over the course of 2021 that may include a new Mistlands biome to explore. With more success, the developers hope to continue improving already existing aspects of the game and possibly release Valheim on a different platform besides PC. Valheim's success in early access bodes well for its long term goals as it becomes yet another survival game to spread like wildfire throughout the gaming world.
Valheim is available now in Early Access on PC.
Source: Steam