V Rising surpasses 3.9 million copies sold: how it compares to other survival games

V Rising is finally coming out of Early Access, along with the upcoming release on PlayStation 5. To celebrate the milestone, Stunlock Studios has also disclosed the game’s lifetime sales.

On February 1, Stunlock Studios announced that V Rising has now sold over 3.9 million copies since its Early Access launch on Steam in May 2022.

Given that it crossed the 3 million mark in January 2023, it took the game about one year to sell another 1 million units on PC.

V Rising’s version 1.0 will come out later this year, along with the PlayStation 5 version. This will also be Stunlock’s first step into the console market, so it is now working on UI improvements, controller support, and other features.

“This launch is a significant milestone for Stunlock Studios, as we’ve leveraged Unity technology to push boundaries and elevate our game to new heights,” CEO Rickard Frisegård said in a statement. “We’re excited for both our dedicated fans and newcomers to embark on this epic vampire journey.”

The game currently has a “Very Positive” rating on Steam, with 88% of the 67k user reviews being positive. Shortly after its EA launch, it also peaked at over 150k concurrent players, having been a huge success for the Swedish developer.

Here is how the sales of V Rising compare to other popular survival games on Steam:

• Rust — over 16 million copies sold;
• Valheim (still in Early Access) — over 12 million copies;
• Palworld (in Early Access) — over 12 million copies in less than two weeks (Steam only);
• The Long Dark — over 6.5 million copies (total number of players is over 10 million);
• The Forest — over 5.3 million copies;
• Sons of the Forest (still in Early Access) — 2 million copies in 24 hours;
• DayZ — over 3 million copies during its EA period (lifetime sales are unclear);
• Enshrouded (in Early Access) — 1 million copies in four days.

Founded in 2010, Stunlock Studios is a small independent team focused on multiplayer games. Prior to V Rising, its most successful project was arena brawler Battlerite. The free-to-play title has attracted over 6 million unique players since its launch in November 2017.

Speaking about the success of V Rising, the studio’s community manager Jeremy Bearson once said: “All the major mechanical systems are built with each other in mind, and it’s easy to find what you like in the game without feeling too imposed by the parts of the game you might be less interested in. It’s all one very cohesive experience, not a bunch of different mechanics sewn together.”