V Rising selling over a million copies in its first week has been most surprising to the dev team at Stunlock Studios. The open-world vampire survival game appeared in early access on May 17, rising through the ranks and setting a concurrent player record of over 150,000 players at some point. Earlier this week, Stunlock’s community manager Jeremy Fielding spoke to IGN, seemingly in shock.
“I absolutely did not expect this many people,” Fielding said. “I don’t think anybody expected it to be quite this big.”
The studio had been working on V Rising for three years before giving audiences a first look in May 2021. The big reveal proved to be more frustrating than uplifting, with most seeming uninterested. It’s understandable–Stunlock isn’t one of the big names in gaming, and survival games have become a dime a dozen. As it turns out, people must really dig the vampire aspect.
The exciting milestone was announced on Twitter.
The game lets players step into the role of a newly-awakened vampire living in a world largely populated and run by humans. The goal is simple–become the next Dracula. Players must consume blood to gain powers, engage in combat alone or with friends, and make sure to not frolic around in the sun.
Despite early audience interest being low, things changed once players could actually take part in the game. We really started to get a lot of attention when we went into closed beta, when people really got an opportunity to get their hands on the game,” Fielding told IGN. “People just want to play. When you’re just hearing about the concept it’s really hard to grasp what it is. We have a fairly unique game that’s kind of hard to explain – we say dark fantasy vampire survival action RPG – and when you say that there’s a million different things your brain can do with it. I think it doesn’t really process until you see it or feel it.”
V Rising is now available through Steam Early Access.
