Black Myth: Wukong has become the most played single-player game ever on Steam

Black Myth: Wukong, the Unreal Engine 5-based action-RPG, launched on Monday for the PlayStation 5 console and also on the PC via Valve's Steam service. The game, from developer and public Game Science, has already broken a major record for Steam in its first 24 hours.

The game is on top of the most concurrent online players list on Steam. More importantly, its current (as of this writing) amount of 1,444,429 players on Steam has set a new record for the most concurrent players on Steam at once for a single-player online game.

That number blows away the amount of online Steam gamers for CD Projekt RED's Cyberpunk 2077, which was the previous record holder on Steam in this single-player category. SteamDB shows it had 1,054,388 concurrent players when it launched in December 2020.

Right now, not only is Black Myth: Wukong the most-played game on Steam at the moment, but it's also the fourth most-played game on the service ever. Only PUBG: Battlegrounds, Palworld, and Counter-Strike 2 (all multiplayer-themed games) have had higher online concurrent player numbers.

Just in case you are unfamiliar with Black Myth: Wukong, here's a quick summary:

Black Myth: Wukong is an action RPG rooted in Chinese mythology. The story is based on Journey to the West, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. You shall set out as the Destined One to venture into the challenges and marvels ahead, to uncover the obscured truth beneath the veil of a glorious legend from the past.

The game also debuted on the PS5 Monday but so far there's no word on how many gamers have played that title on Sony's console. The game also launched for the PC via the Epic Games Store where it is currently listed as the top selling game. However, there's no word on how many online players are playing tha title on that storefront.

Update: 9:06 am Eastern time, August 20 - SteamDB now shows that Black Myth: Wukong has surpassed Palworld as the second biggest concurrent player record holder on Steam with 2,111,104 online players.