FragPunk Draws More than 110,000 Steam Players, Monetization Problems Still Exist

Free-to-play first-person shooter FragPunk scored a landslide release on Steam with almost 114,000 players just days following its release on March 6, 2025. The game is developed by NetEase-owned studio Thunder Fire Studio’s Bad Guitar Studio and is now the sixth best-selling game on Steam, where some initial opposition from gamers to its in-your-face monetization.

FragPunk’s Sizzling Surge on Steam

Following alpha and beta closure in 2024, FragPunk has gained popularity within a couple of days of launch. The game has been continually shattering its own concurrent player record every day, peaking at 113,946 players on March 9, as per SteamDB.

FragPunk is currently the 16th most popular game on Steam and is still on the rise. The shooter also experienced a change in Steam user reviews from “Mixed” to “Mostly Positive” in only three days.

FragPunk’s Monetization Has Not Been Universally Well-Received

Even with its popularity, FragPunk’s monetization model has not been well-received. When the game was first launched, the game was accused of having many premium features, including:

Two different membership tiers

Two premium battle passes

Nine different in-game currencies

Although some players originally review-bombed the game because of these problems, the user rating is currently 71.15% positive based on over 10,000 reviews. Many of the original critics seem to have since ditched the game, leaving new players to capitalize on the gameplay experience.

FragPunk’s Success and Future Updates Finances

Despite the criticism, the title’s monetization strategy seems to be working since it has already gained a place in Steam’s Top Sellers. In the last few days, only five other products have made more money:

1. Counter-Strike 2
2. Split Fiction
3. Monster Hunter Wilds
4. REPO
5. The Steam Deck

Interestingly, FragPunk can also be found on the Epic Games Store, albeit its home will always be Steam. In the meantime, its scheduled PS5 and Xbox Series X/S releases were delayed right at the eleventh hour, with no release date so far announced.

With good out-of-the-gates momentum and Season 1 content already on the table, FragPunk has all the ingredients of a major new entry in the hero shooter genre—if it can strike the right balance between monetization issues and happiness.