Escape from Duckov is an unlikely hit on Steam after half a million sales and a huge number of simultaneous releases over the weekend.
The parody of the extraction shooter Escape from Tarkov is very popular – there are 173,394 players on Valve’s platform at the same time. That’s enough to make it the sixth most played game on Steam right now. Only Delta Force, Battlefield 6, PUBG, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2 are currently more popular.
Escape from Duckov is a top-down PVE shooter where you scavenge for resources, build a hideout, and upgrade your gear. “Start from scratch and rise to the top,” says the official blurb. “Outwit the enemy ducks, survive or escape with your life.”
After its release on October 16, Team Soda’s game sold an additional 500,000 copies over the weekend. The Steam user rating is quite good and is “Overwhelmingly Positive”. “The entire development team is quacking with joy and flapping their wings with excitement right now!” reads the statement.
Meanwhile, Escape from Tarkov will be available on Steam on November 15. It will be compelling to see if it surpasses the peak of concurrent players playing Escape from Duckov on the platform. A console version is in preparation.
Extraction shooters may be having a moment, especially on PC. For example, Arc Raiders has been very popular on Steam recently during the “Server Slam” playtest, which bodes well for its behind schedule October release date. Half a month later, Escape from Tarkov will join the fun.
Wesley is the news director at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Wesley can be reached at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
