Factorio's player count is through the roof after the Space Age expansion, ripping thousands of engineers away from their day jobs

(Image credit: Wube Software LTD.)

Factorio's Space Age expansion went live yesterday, and it managed to set a new all-time player count peak for the game, with 91,801 players flooding back in to check out the expansion.

The Space Age expansion more than doubles the size of the original game, and continues the player's journey after they launch rockets into space. You can discover new worlds which you can exploit for resources, and manage your fleet of interplanetary space ships. You'll also have to build airtight defenses to shoot down incoming asteroids that could destroy your platform, use the rubble to harvest thruster fuel and turret ammunition, and finally use the platform hub and cargo bays to shuttle freight between planets. But you can check out the trailer to see what sick-looking planetary adventures lie ahead of you.

So it's not really surprising that Factorio has seen such a resurgence when it comes to player numbers. "Past 50,000 now," one player says. "Considering how many people are currently at work, me included, I expect this to continue rising. 70,000 is the next big milestone, 2x the previous peak." When the game released back in August 2020, it managed to hit a high of 34,700 players at one point, so 91,801 is an impressive feat that more than doubles its old record.

Satisfactory's player count has been steadily dropping since its first week at 1.0, and it managed to set a new all-time peak of 186,158 players, according to SteamDB. But since Factorio's Space Age expansion release, player count dropped by 20,000, so I wouldn't be surprised if at least some of those players hopped over to check out the new Factorio content. With more players probably on the way for the coming weekend, it'll be interesting to see just how high the player count will go. I'm also excited to see what kind of amazing creations we'll get out of this new burst in players.

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.