Rust has been a household name for multiplayer survival game fans since it entered early access in 2013, but it hasn’t always enjoyed a positive reputation. More casual gamers have shied away from the hardcore PvP elements of the game while the run-and-gun elites don’t want to mess with the extensive building side of the game.
But now the game seems to have caught on across the board as its popularity just keeps climbing and climbing. Last week alone Rust reached $1 million in daily sales TWICE. According to Gamasutra, Rust sold a total of 530,000 copies in 2020 with a gross income of $43 million, but the way this year is already going, it looks like the game will surpass that number with ease.
On top of that, the concurrent player count has skyrocketed just last week from the previous record of 60,000 in 2014 to 244,770 on January 9th, 2021.
So what’s going on? How does an 8-year-old game suddenly gain a new life?
It’s all thanks to two gigantic Twitch streamer communities that each decided to make their own Rust servers specifically for Twitch streamers.
OfflineTV (OTV) and Egoland both made servers that offer a safer place to play the game without fear of offline looting or offline raiding. These servers demand respect and consideration for other players above all else.
Is rust big again? I haven’t played in like 5 years? I tried a few times spawned in got beat to death and didn’t get much further 😂
— Brian Johnson (@brian_johnsonok) January 8, 2021
With that type of infrastructure in place, you can imagine that it’s an invite-only server, meaning that you can’t get on unless you know someone on the server already.
But even if you aren’t well-connected to these streaming communities and still want to play, there are planty of other private server options that offer more respectful rules. And honestly, the game is worth checking out if you haven’t already. While it may not be as cutesy as something like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing, it still offers some of the same type of daily chores gameplay, including fishing, farming, crafting, vehicles, and an extensive fort-building capability.
Now the question is: when will it be available for consoles? Currently, Rust is only playable on the PC, and a console release was actually planned by developer Facepunch Studios for 2020, but delays have pushed it to 2021. That might end up being a good thing as many people are still waiting to get their hands on a PS5, but we anticipate another record-breaking surge once the game hits consoles.
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