Following our recent coverage on Evolve Stage 2, new details have emerged that the player count has jumped over 15,000%.

As reported on Eurogamer, last Wednesday showed the player count sitting on 157 active users. Since going free to play, the player count as of today has peaked as high as 41,036 users, with 24,987 currently active at the time of this reporting. As of now, Evolve Stage 2 is now sitting at 14th place for the top 100th most played games on Steam.

Following a recent blog post, co-founder of Turtle Rock Studio Chris Aston says the decision to go to free to play hopes to drive more enthusiasm back to the player base. Aston says in addition to going free to play, Evolve Stage 2 will also provide improvements in both the maps, UI, performance, classes, and progression system.

Yes, there was excitement. There was also disappointment – for players and for us. The DLC shitstorm hit full force and washed away people’s enthusiasm, dragging us further and further from that first magical pick-up-and-play experience. We want that magic back and we aim to make it happen. We’ve made a lot of changes, improvements and additions to Evolve over the past year and we’ve got a lot more coming. In short, we’re giving this game a vigorous overhaul!" - Chris Aston, Co-Founder of Turtle Rock Studio

As discussed in our previous article, players who purchased original Evolve (or any downloadable content) will receive a special “Founder” status in Evolve Stage 2. This means that not only will players will be able to keep any purchased content, but will also be given special badges, skins, and cosmetic items as an appreciation for their loyalty.

Though despite the Founders status, there are many veteran players are feeling upset with these changes. As noted on several steam reviews, users are reporting their dismay to having their previous level progressions and elite statuses erased, fewer maps, and fewer game modes. Turtle Rock is saying that Evolve Stage 2 is in Beta and are attempting to address some of the concerns, but this may be the only time that a game that has been fully launched for over a year has gone 'into beta' replacing the base game completely with the unfinished Beta.

In regards to console versions, the developers have noted that they'll be working with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions once the PC version leaves Beta.

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Quick Take

Well this is a big surprise, and certainly unprecedented for Turtle Rock to place previously launched title is back in beta. Still, I suppose with number of players either coming back or just now starting to play Evolve, it's certainly understandable for them emphasize that this is a transitional process at the moment. At the moment, all that I'm hoping for is that Turtle Rock sorts out these issues with the Veteran player base within the coming weeks.



What are your thoughts on Evolve Stage 2? Are you happy with Turtle Rock going free to play? Let us know what you think in the comments below!