Phantom Blade Zero has arrived to a strong reception, with the action game drawing over 723,000 concurrent players on Steam within hours of launch. The soulslike-adjacent title, which combines choreographed combat sequences by action director Donnie Yen with a setting rooted in Chinese folklore, is now available on both PC and PlayStation 5.
The game's launch success builds on considerable momentum from its prelaunch period. Before release, the title had already sold an estimated 1 million units, demonstrating significant player interest ahead of availability. That early enthusiasm has translated into solid concurrent player numbers on Valve's platform, marking an impressive debut for the studio behind the project.
Regional Sales Breakdown
Analysis of the prelaunch sales revealed a pronounced geographic concentration. When preorders had reached 850,000 units sold, data showed that 62.5% of those purchases came from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. On Steam specifically, these regions accounted for 75.9% of copies sold, while representing about 24.9% of PS5 sales. The early sales generated approximately $43 million in revenue across both platforms combined.
Studio and Creative Vision
Creative director Soulframe Liang released a launch-day message thanking players for the strong start and acknowledging the effort of the development team at S-Game. Liang described the project as a large-scale undertaking created with passion, framing it as a gift from a small group of developers who are also gamers to the broader gaming community. The message emphasized the shared love of gaming that connected the creators to their audience.
Market Position
While Phantom Blade Zero is off to a solid start, it is not yet matching the extraordinary performance of Black Myth: Wukong, another recent success from the Chinese development scene. That title achieved 10 million units sold within its first three days. Despite this difference, Phantom Blade Zero has already entered the top 40 games of 2026 by revenue, a notable achievement given the volume of major releases throughout the year. The game continues to build on its early momentum as more players experience its wuxia-inspired combat and setting.