The Outlast Trials triples its player record to more than 120,000
More than 120,000 players piled into The Outlast Trials at once, a new concurrent-player record for the Red Barrels game.
The total was reported on 7 October 2026. It is more than three times the previous peak of 36,000 concurrent players, meaning people playing at the same moment GameSpot.
That earlier mark was set at the Steam Early Access launch in 2023. Early Access is a system that lets developers sell a game while it is still in development, with players buying an unfinished version. The finished release, labelled version 1.0, arrived in spring 2024.
The new high followed a sharp price cut. The Outlast Trials was discounted to US$4 in the Steam Autumn Sale. The Sale is a seasonal discount event on Steam, the PC storefront where players buy and download games.
Geography helped drive the number. Roughly half of the players in the 120,000-player peak were from China. Red Barrels said the game is seeing a surge in popularity in China.
The structure of the game suits a crowd. The Outlast Trials is playable solo but designed as a co-op game for up to four players. Co-op, short for cooperative, means players team up to get through missions together rather than playing alone.
What makes this stand out is the timing and the scale of the jump. Three years passed between the Early Access peak and this record. A rise from 36,000 to more than 120,000 is not a narrow beat. It points to a different audience mix, with new buyers arriving well after launch.
For newcomers, this means busy servers and faster matchmaking. A co-op game needs other people online to fill teams of up to four, and a larger player pool makes full groups easier to find. A US$4 entry price also lowers the cost of bringing friends along, which matters when one purchase can turn into three more players.
For Red Barrels, the record resets expectations for an older title. The game set its last best at Early Access in 2023 and left that stage with version 1.0 in spring 2024. More than two years later, it has tripled that figure on the strength of a sale and strong interest in China.
