Summary
When its early access launched on October 7,Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero got off to a flying start. Within 24 hours, the game becamethe most-played fighting game in Steam history, beating the likes ofStreet Fighter 6,Tekken 8, andMortal Kombat 11.
Less than a month later, however, the game is struggling to retain players, losing 90% of those who jumped in during its first few days.
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s Quick Fall From Grace
When it launched, public sentiment around Sparking Zero was great. It released with an85% score on Opencritic, scoring a4.5/5 from us here at TheGamer, and soldthree million copies within its first 24 hours. This culminated in the game peaking at 122,554 concurrent players, significantly higher than its contemporaries, with Street Fighter 6 holding the previous record at 70,540.
Fast-forward a few weeks, and for the last two days, the game has been peaking at around 15,500 players, more than an 87% drop since launch, according toSteamDB.
While such a drop-off might be expected from a single-player title, a multiplayer game losing such a significant portion of its player base in such a short period of time is a concern—Sparking Zero, coincidentally, has now failed to beat Street Fighter 6’s daily concurrent player count since Sunday, October 27.
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero has been peaking at around 15,500 players, more than an 87% drop since launch.
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero has been marred with player complaints since launch. These have arisen from the game having some major balancing issues,particularly with Yajirobe, unsportsmanlikeplayers who abuse “broken” mechanics, aninflux of cheaters, andexceedingly difficult single-player battles, which ledBandai Namcotorelease a statement, which have all likely contributed to the game’s downfall.
Although the player count is looking a little bleak, there’s still hope for Sparking Zero, as Bandai typically supports itsDragon Ballgames for extended periods of time. As of now, the game has at leastthree further pieces of contentfeaturing 20 new characters to come, focusing onDragon Ball Z: Super Heroand Dragon Ball Daima, so there’s plenty of time for a redemption arc.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
WHERE TO PLAY
Considered part to the Budokai Tenkachi series, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is an in-development arena fighter developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by Namco Bandai.
