r/Games: Death Stranding 2 posts a strong Steam debut as Sony reportedly rethinks PC strategy

The r/Games post stands out because Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is being discussed as more than another successful PC port. According to GameSpot, the game reached 55,444 concurrent players on Steam, a strong early result that arrives just as reports say Sony is reconsidering how aggressively it wants to keep pushing its PlayStation catalog onto PC.

What the Steam numbers show

GameSpot says Death Stranding 2 hit 55,444 concurrent players on Steam after arriving on PC roughly a year after its PS5 debut. That puts it ahead of the original Death Stranding's 32,515 peak and the Director's Cut's 22,080. The report also says it launched ahead of several other PlayStation Studios PC releases, including Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, The Last of Us Part 1, and The Last of Us Part 2.

GameSpot also adds an important caveat: concurrent users alone are not a complete measure of success for a single-player game. Even so, a weekend opening that beats multiple earlier PlayStation PC ports is a clear sign that there is still meaningful demand for the right title when it reaches Steam.

Why Sony's broader strategy matters

The article links Death Stranding 2's performance to reports that Sony is reassessing its wider PC business. GameSpot summarizes earlier reporting that some PlayStation releases may not have met Sony's sales expectations on PC and that the company's stance could also be influenced by the next Xbox, Project Helix, reportedly supporting multiple storefronts. That part remains reported context rather than confirmed Sony policy, so it needs to be read carefully.

There is another wrinkle here: Death Stranding 2 is not a typical in-house PlayStation Studios case. Kojima Productions is an independent studio, and the first Death Stranding also moved from timed PlayStation exclusivity to PC and later Xbox. So while the game's Steam start is strong, it may not map perfectly onto Sony's first-party decision-making. What it does show is that the PC audience still responds when a major release arrives with momentum.

What comes next

Whether Death Stranding 2 can hold its early Steam numbers through the weekend

Whether Sony comments publicly on its current PC plans in an earnings call or investor briefing

Whether Sony starts separating independent partnerships from its first-party port strategy more clearly

The current signal from r/Games is straightforward. Death Stranding 2 has opened well on Steam, and that success is landing at exactly the moment the market is questioning how Sony wants its PC business to evolve from here.