Now more than ever, players and experts are flocking to SteamDB to track concurrent player counts for existing live titles and recently released titles to determine if a game is failing. It's not perfect, as most games are released on PC and consoles, but it's close to a publicly accessible picture.
Currently, the focus of these efforts is on Bungie's newest title, Marathon. Before its closure, the focus was on Highguard. Before that it was Concorde. Do you feel a pattern?
If the players can see the Highguard's failure, why can't everyone else?
Wildlight Entertainment has confirmed that Highguard will be taking offline next week.
A new site has emerged that tracks titles in real time that seem dissatisfied with the data that exists to see if they are “failing.” Naturally, it's called Flopathon, and as Push Square first discovered, it's meant to pull data from SteamDB, albeit with a different purpose.
“While publishers hide behind agendas and PR spin, we track what really matters: the players,” the site’s home page says. “Raw data. Mistakes. No narrative. We don't care about your politics. We care about your games. Don't label us as haters for calling out a bad product. We're not here for an agenda. We're here for the truth behind player counts.”
The site has established four core principles that seem to guide its approach.
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“Live player count tracking — unfiltered, no sponsors”
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“Community-Driven Verdict: Players Decide What Failed”
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“No corporate influence. No paid reviews. No bullshit.”
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“Game-centric. Player first. Always.”
The site also has targets for some reason.
One thing that stands out is that there is a “target” that is specifically tracked. These titles seem to go against the mission of the site.
The current 'goals' are:
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marathon
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1348 Ex Voto
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crimson desert
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last flag
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Solasta II
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Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflections
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skull and bones
Each individual page contains concurrent charts and player data, including growth and decline rates. You can vote on whether the game is a “flop” or “hot.” For example, in Marathon, there were 1,700 votes for a “flop” state and 435 votes for a “hot” state.
There is a chat log called “Field Reports” and a Discord one.
“This site is a true web democracy. Fuck the naysayers,” one user wrote in the chat log.
And there's also a “reviews” page filled with tweets from people criticizing the site, perhaps as a way to show that it's worth the mission.
Since SteamDB already did most of its work as an independent effort, it's unclear what void it would fill other than allowing people to discuss the success or failure of a game in real time (something that already happens regularly anyway).
- released
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March 5, 2026
- ESRB
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Teen/Animation Blood, Language, Violence, In-Game Purchases, User Interaction
- multiplayer
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Online multiplayer, online co-op
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