Weekend Highlights (July 12-13)

The FBI shut down seven pirate gaming websites, the audience for Lords of the Fallen reached 5.5 million people, and RimWorld broke its record for peak online players on Steam almost 12 years after its release. Here's a recap of the major events in the gaming industry over the past weekend.

• The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the successful execution of an operation against pirated gaming sites. As a result, seven portals distributing illegal copies of games were shut down. Among them was NSw2u, one of the most well-known sites for Nintendo Switch games. According to the FBI, the damage from these sites amounted to over $170 million just in the spring alone.
• CI Games boasted that since its release in October 2023, Lords of the Fallen has attracted 5.5 million people. It's important to note that this figure reflects the total number of players who have tried the Souls-like game, including Game Pass subscribers, rather than the number of copies sold. The game's sales figures have not been disclosed.
• The creators of Peak also shared updated stats for their title. They reported that the cooperative climbing simulator has been purchased 5 million times. It took Peak just under a month to reach this milestone; the game was released on June 16.
• On Sunday, July 13, RimWorld's peak online player count on Steam reached the highest in the game's history — 94,648 concurrent users. For comparison, the previous record set in April 2024 was a third lower at 62,257 players. This surge in interest is owed to the release of the Odyssey expansion, which significantly expanded the game's world. As a reminder, the space colony simulator from Ludeon Studios entered early access on Steam back in November 2013 and reached its official release in October 2018.