Project Zomboid Hits 121,000 Concurrent Players After 13 Years In Early Access

Update To Indie In Early Access Since 2013 Makes It One Of Steam's Most-Played Games The Indie Stone Published Aug 3, 2026, 7:15 AM EDT Josh Coulson is an editor at TheGamer covering breaking news on everything from colorful platformers to the latest Lego sets. Primarily a news writer since 2018, Josh has covered just about every major game from the past decade. Now an editor, their focus has shifted to being the leading affiliate expert at the site, building relationships between TheGamer and global brands including Mattel, Funko, and The Pokemon Company. Some games stay in early access for so long that they’ll probably never leave it. Project Zomboid is one of those games, and the new heights it reached over the weekend all point to reasons why The Indie Stone is likely more than happy to just keep adding to the game rather than finally give it a 1.0 release. Project Zomboid launched in early access in 2013 and, for seven years, had a pretty modest player count. It was towards the end of 2020 that it started to pick up more players, and a year later in 2021 when it really surged in popularity. Project Zomboid Sets An Incredible New Concurrent Player Record However, nothing in Project Zomboid’s 13-year history compares to what the indie game pulled off over the weekend. Not only did the game’s 42.40 player count ensure that it broke its previous concurrent record, but it smashed it. More than 100,000 of you played at the same time for the first time in its history, peaking at an impressive 121,603 players on Sunday according to SteamDB. That impressive new record, and sudden influx of players after all this time, has been brought about by a massive new update. The Big Glow Up, as it’s referred to in the blog post detailing what’s new, is the biggest update Project Zomboid has received since 2021, and it effectively doubles the size of its map. New Towns, New Basements, New Animals The Indie Stone That has given the devs room to add three whole new towns to the map. On top of that, seven of Project Zomboid’s pre-existing towns have been given makeovers, changing them entirely and making them more unique and distinct from one another. There are also new locations to get acquainted with, including a prison and an abandoned orphanage. Project Zomboid's widespread changes extend to what’s going on underneath the map too. There are now 400 procedural basements to discover in the game, along with 75 all-new unique ones. Throw in new animals to hunt like cows and chickens (thanks, PC Gamer), the sheer size of this update is almost unbelievable, and it’s easy to see why not only have old players come flocking back, but a whole swath of new players are trying Project Zomboid out for the first time. The massive player spike is also confirmation to the devs that increasing the price was the right call. It now costs $25, up from $20, if you want early access to Project Zomboid. Don’t worry, those who bought the game before the update won’t now have to pay extra. Clearly, though, those who missed the boat for those first 13 years are more than happy to pay more than everybody else, though, and if it can sustain these numbers, which seems likely, Steam might have a new unexpected hit on its hands. There’s still no word on when Project Zomboid will leave early access. If an update this big didn’t get it to 1.0, I’m not sure anything ever will. Systems Released November 8, 2013 ESRB m Developer(s) The Indie Stone Publisher(s) The Indie Stone Engine LWJGL