Phantom Blade Zero Sells 500,000 Copies on Steam Before Official Launch

Phantom Blade Zero has already sold an estimated 500,000 copies on Steam, days before the game’s own October 28, 2026 release date. The figures come from Alinea Analytics’ head of market analysis, Rhys Elliott, who shared the estimate on LinkedIn, putting Steam pre-order revenue at roughly $24 million for S-GAME’s wuxia action RPG.

It’s a striking number for a completely new intellectual property, especially one built by a Chinese studio entering a genre long dominated by Japanese and Western developers.

Outpacing Other Major Releases Before Launch

Elliott’s estimate claims Phantom Blade Zero is currently outperforming both Gears of War: E-Day and Control Resonant on Steam, two other high-profile recent releases, based on pre-launch sales data. Alongside the 500,000 copies sold, the game has also racked up roughly 2.5 million Steam wishlists as of October 20, down slightly from a peak of more than 3 million in mid-September once early wishlists began converting into actual purchases.

It’s worth noting these are third-party estimates modeled from Steam data rather than official figures from S-GAME itself. The studio hasn’t released its own sales numbers ahead of launch, though director Qiwei “Soulframe” Liang previously confirmed that pre-orders in their first week had “far exceeded” internal expectations.

Who’s Buying It, and Why That Matters

Elliott’s analysis also dug into audience overlap, finding that 41% of players who wishlisted Phantom Blade Zero have also played Black Myth: Wukong, 38% have played Elden Ring, and 28% have played Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. That overlap suggests the game is successfully pulling in the exact audience S-GAME would want: players already primed for challenging, combat-focused action RPGs.

China is reportedly the game’s largest market by current sales, though the wishlist and purchase data suggest meaningful international interest as well, something that’s historically been harder for Chinese-developed action games to build ahead of a global launch.

What’s Coming at Launch

Phantom Blade Zero releases digitally on PS5 and PC on October 28, 2026, with physical PS5 editions delayed until 2027. PC players will need 145 GB of storage, plus up to 300 GB of free space during pre-loading.

Ahead of the official review embargo lifting, a review from Brazilian outlet Critical Hits was briefly published and then deleted, though users managed to save its score of 8.5 out of 10 before it came down. The leaked review reportedly praised the game’s combat system, varied weapons with on-the-fly switching, free skill resets, boss fights, and its wuxia-inspired visual design, while noting some overly long boss fights, repetitive standard enemies, and a lack of rebindable controls as weaker points.

The game follows Soul, an elite assassin framed for murdering the leader of the powerful organization he serves, left with a limited time to live after being revived with a damaged heart, and set on a mission to restore it while uncovering the conspiracy against him.

FAQ