BioWare has had a…rough couple of years, but time heals all wounds. Or to be more specific, the original Mass Effect trilogy given a passionate new coat of paint and bundled into one almighty package is definitely good enough to make up for Anthem. Rest in piece, second-worst Iron Man video game of all time.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition launched last week, and so far the game has proven that nostalgia is a hell of a drug. As spotted on ResetEra, the Mass Effect collection has pretty much smashed Mass Effect 2’s franchise-defining record for the most concurrent players, peaking at 59, 817 players at the time of writing this post.
That’s not too shabby! For the sake of comparison, Steam Charts listed previous Mass Effect game concurrent players at these numbers (I’m leaving the third game off because the stats are a bit too nebulous):
- Mass Effect – 4183 players at peak
- Mass Effect 2 – 13, 320 players at peak
It’s worth noting that Mass Effect Legendary Edition isn’t exclusive to EA Origin, a rare feat considering that most BioWare games are exclusive to EA’s digital distribution platform. Mass Effect Andromeda had an infamously poor launch on Steam a couple of years ago, peaking at 2969 concurrent players at the time.
This all adds up to plenty of good news for the series, as Mass Effect Legendary Edition pre-orders were through the roof and knocked Resident Evil Village down a few pegs. Yes, not even the internet’s insatiable horniness for tall ladies could stop the juggernaut that is Mass Effect. There’s plenty to love as well, and despite a few bugs here and there which will likely be patched up, the Legendary Edition is a pretty fantastic collection that stands as the definitive version of BioWare’s best franchise.
I’ll have a review up later this week, but spoiler alert: EA and BioWare have done some damn good work on preserving the trilogy for future generations.
Last Updated: May 17, 2021
