Where Winds Meet has blown up since its global PC and PlayStation 5 launch on November 14, becoming one of the hottest games on Steam as of late. The open-world Wuxia sim is so hot that the explosive and sustained player count has surprised developer Everstone Studio, who said the numbers exceeded internal expectations.
Lead producer Beralt Lyu spoke to FRVR about the game recently reaching nine million players on November 29, just two weeks after its worldwide launch. Lyu explained that while the team always had faith in their Wuxia world, they weren’t expecting this much success this quickly.
“We hoped it would find its audience, the players who would love the freedom and mystery we tried to create,” Lyu said. “But [nine] million players in two weeks … that number has honestly blown all our internal expectations out of the water. The mood in the studio is hard to put into words. There’s definitely pride and excitement–seeing years of hard work resonate with so many people is a feeling like no other. But what really hits us, more than anything, is the sense of responsibility.”
Lyu continued, saying the nine million players exploring Everstone Studio’s fictionalized 10th-century China aren’t “just a metric” but “nine million individual journeys.” Looking at the player count that way, he told FRVR that it’s “incredibly motivating and incredibly humbling” for Where Winds Meet to be this popular.
“To put it simply, the overwhelming feeling is one of deep gratitude and a focused determination,” Lyu said. “This incredible show of trust isn’t the end goal; it’s the fuel. It’s what pushes us to keep improving and expanding this world for everyone. The journey has really just begun, and we’re so grateful to have this amazing community with us.”
Lyu also said that although Where Winds Meet’s monetization may be somewhat ridiculous, the game will not become pay-to-win, and the team has no plans to pursue any other “aggressive” forms of monetization. The only things you can buy will forever be cosmetics, something Lyu believes gives Everstone Studio an advantage over other free-to-play games on the market.
“We must protect our greatest commercial advantage–which is offering an experience free from the constraints of pay-to-win mechanics,” Lyu said.”Therefore, with that as our guiding principle, we see no need to become aggressive or introduce statistical advantages in the future.”
Where Winds Meet is still sitting comfortably on Steam’s most-played games list as of this writing, trailing just behind Arc Raiders. With hundreds of thousands of players logging on at any time, Everstone Studio made it clear that if you cheat, you will get suspended; the developer already took action against 5,000 accounts for using software such as macros and speed hacking. That said, players are finding ways to circumvent the game’s myriad systems, such as tricking the plethora of AI chatbot NPCs to cough up loot and quest items.
Where Winds Meet is available now on PC and PS5. The open-world Wuxia RPG will make its global Android and iOS debut on December 12, with Everstone Studio posting on X that some five million people have already pre-registered their devices for its imminent release.