Console users who have been looking forward to playing Facepunch Studio’s Rust may not have to wait for very long. Just recently, the crazed online survival game received an ESRB rating that could be an indicator that the console version will be launching soon.
Facepunch Studio announced Rust’s upcoming console version during the XO19 conference. On the other hand, the ESRB rating states that the game will be available on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. While neither ESRB nor the developer mentioned the next-gen consoles, it’s highly possible that Rust can still be played on them thanks to backwards compatibility.
Even though Rust was initially released all the way back in 2013, the multiplayer-only survival experience was able to retain a dedicated fanbase despite all these years. As a matter of fact, the title has been experiencing a surge in popularity once more, as it was able to reach another player milestone a few days ago.
More or less eight years since its launch, Rust was able to break its past record of congruent players by more than 50%. Data shows that the game reached under 204,000 concurrent players at one point, which is an incredible jump from its previous record.
We can’t help but think that highly popular Twitch streamers such as Myth, Pokimane, and Sykkuno played a major role as to why more and more gamers have become interested in Rust. Although, we also have to give credit to the game’s developers as well, especially since Facepunch Studio painstakingly worked to create an incredible open-world environment where players can roam and enjoy themselves.
That said, it also can’t be denied that major names in Twitch’s gaming community have been playing the game recently, which probably influenced a lot of Rust’s new players. There’s been a lot of drama involving some of the more well-known streamers as well, so we can imagine that this has led to an increase in Rust’s sales too.
For a little bit of context, fifty popular Twitch streamers joined the private OfflineTV Rust server. Seeing as they were all in one space, these streamers could interact and collaborate with one another effortlessly.
However, things didn’t go as smoothly as they had hoped, as the whole event turned into a dramatic reality TV show a la Twitch. Controversial streamer xQc started to cause trouble for the other online personalities involved, which led to countless viral clips being posted and shared online e.g. Twitter, Reddit, and TikTok.
Thanks to Twitch and its streamers, there’s now a recurring spotlight on the eight-year-old Rust, causing Facepunch Studio’s revenue to increase to incredible numbers. As a matter of fact, Rust was able to amass $1 million in Steam Revenue twice already this year—and to think that we’re only just a few days into 2021.
These incredible numbers just go to show how helpful and effective Twitch as a platform is when it comes to promoting video games. After all, the reception of a streaming platform’s audience can play a major role as to whether or not a game will succeed or fail. This can also be seen in the way 2018’s Among Us quickly rose in popularity after it captured the attention of popular Twitch streamers last year.
