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Digimon Story Time Stranger Achieves Unprecedented Launch Success

New Digimon Game Achieves High Player Count

Digimon Story Time Stranger is experiencing notable success among players.

  • Game sees over 70,000 concurrent players
  • Far surpasses previous Digimon titles
  • Ranked seventh on US PS Store
  • Sales update likely forthcoming
  • Review score: 6/10
  • Game may not meet all expectations

Digimon Story Time Stranger reached 84 458 concurrent players on Steam at its October 5 peak, marking one of the largest launches for a JRPG on PC in 2025.[1][2]

Steam Performance and Records

The game posted 84 458 peak concurrent users on October 5, 2025, according to SteamDB. This eclipses the franchise’s previous high of 3 429 players for Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth Hacker’s Memory by nearly 25-fold. Time Stranger also outperformed major JRPGs such as Final Fantasy XVI (27 508 peak) and Persona 5 Royal (35 474 peak), positioning it behind only Granblue Fantasy Relink (114 054 peak) and Metaphor ReFantazio (85 961 peak) among recent genre releases.[2]

User reviews on Steam rate the game as Very Positive based on over 1 200 reviews, praising its monster collection depth and combat mechanics.[3]

Console and Digital Store Success

Physical editions sold out in Japan within days of the October 3 release, prompting Bandai Namco to announce restocks and highlight strong prelaunch demand. On the PlayStation Store, Time Stranger ranked first in Singapore, second in Japan, third in South Korea, and sixth in the United States during its first week. The average PlayStation Store user rating stands at 4.78 stars from 4 250 ratings.[4][5][6]

Critical Reception

Time Stranger holds a Metacritic critic score of 78 for PlayStation 5 based on 48 reviews and a user score of 9.3 on Metacritic based on 112 reviews. IGN awarded 8/10, calling it “one of the best Digimon RPGs to date,” and commended its strategic turn-based combat and robust Digimon roster. GameGrin rated it 9.5/10, highlighting its accessibility for new players. Push Square gave a 6/10, noting that linear design choices limited its systems’ full potential.[7][8][9][10][11]

Game Details and Features

Developed by Media.Vision and published by Bandai Namco, Digimon Story Time Stranger is the seventh entry in the Story subseries and arrives eight years after its last installment. The game features over 450 Digimon, visible symbol encounters, and a time-travel narrative set between Tokyo and the Digital World. Players join the ADAMAS agency to investigate temporal anomalies affecting both worlds.[12][13][14]

Impact on the Genre

Time Stranger’s launch success demonstrates robust demand for monster-collecting RPGs beyond Nintendo platforms. Its performance on Steam fills a gap in the PC market and may influence future investments in similar titles. Sustained concurrent users—over 45 000 as of October 8—indicate lasting engagement beyond the initial release surge.[1]

Luca Fischer

Luca Fischer

Senior Technology Journalist

United States – New York Tech

Luca Fischer is a senior technology journalist with more than twelve years of professional experience specializing in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and consumer electronics. He earned his M.S. in Computer Science from Columbia University in 2011, where he developed a strong foundation in data science and network security before transitioning into tech media. Throughout his career, Luca has been recognized for his clear, analytical approach to explaining complex technologies. His in-depth articles explore how AI innovations, privacy frameworks, and next-generation devices impact both industry and society. Luca’s work has appeared across leading digital publications, where he delivers detailed reviews, investigative reports, and feature analyses on major players such as Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, AMD, Intel, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity AI. Beyond writing, he mentors young journalists entering the AI-tech field and advocates for transparent, ethical technology communication. His goal is to make the future of technology understandable and responsible for everyone.

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Pushsquare.com is a UK-based online magazine and website dedicated to PlayStation news, reviews, features, and community. It provides in-depth content for fans of Sony's PlayStation consoles, including the PS5, PS4, and PSVR2. The site also has an active presence on social media platforms like Facebook, X, and YouTube.

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Elena Voren is a senior journalist and Tech Section Editor with 8 years of experience focusing on AI ethics, social media impact, and consumer software. She is recognized for interviewing industry leaders and academic experts while clearly distinguishing opinion from evidence-based reporting. She earned her B.A. in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley (2016), where she studied human-computer interaction, AI, and digital behavior. Elena’s work emphasizes the societal implications of technology, ensuring readers understand both the practical and ethical dimensions of emerging tools. She leads the Tech Section at Faharas NET, supervising coverage on AI, consumer software, digital society, and privacy technologies, while maintaining rigorous editorial standards. Based in Berlin, Germany, Elena provides insightful analyses on technology trends, ethical AI deployment, and the influence of social platforms on modern life.

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Editorial Timeline

Revisions
— by Howayda Sayed
Added relevant sources.
— by Howayda Sayed
Updated and refined the title.
— by Howayda Sayed
Verified the figures in the article.

Correction Record

Accountability
— by Howayda Sayed
  1. Accuracy Corrections
  2. Confirmed peak Steam concurrent player count of 84 458 on October 5, 2025.
  3. Verified PlayStation Store regional rankings and user rating.
  4. Updated Metacritic critic and user scores for PlayStation 5 version.
  5. Confirmed developer, publisher, and series context.
  6. Structural Enhancements
  7. Organized sections by reader priority: performance, sales, reception, features, impact.
  8. Used short paragraphs and clear headings without ampersands.
  9. Eliminated speculative language and hype terms.
  10. Data Gaps for Future Updates
  11. Official total unit sales figures across platforms.
  12. Exact console concurrent user data.
  13. Postlaunch content roadmap and DLC details.

FAQ

Why did the game perform so well?

Not stated by the source.

How do player counts indicate sales?

Higher player counts usually suggest strong sales.

What is the review score of the game?

The game received a score of 6/10.