Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Has Had A Phenomenal Debut

Say what you will about Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and its relation to cheating, difficulty and accessibility but one thing is now for certain: it has had a phenomenal debut.

In an announcement, publisher Activision and developer From Software revealed some staggering numbers for the March-released title. It was the most viewed game on Twitch during its launch day — momentum that was maintained throughout the following week, with more than 631 million minutes watched over the same weekend, and a total of 1.1 billion minutes watched within one week.

And the cherry on top: it sold more than two million copies worldwide across PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in less than 10 days.

Here’s what Activision vice president of product management and marketing Michelle Fonseca said about the achievements in a press release:

“Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has brought something very special and unique to Activision’s portfolio of games. It’s been an honor to work with From Software to help introduce a brand-new franchise to gamers around the world. The fans have made Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice one of the most incredible game launches of 2019 thus far. The game has performed well on all platforms including PC and we’re excited by the continued support from gamers and critics alike. It has been gratifying to see the enjoyment from fans when they overcome each challenge.”

It’s interesting that Fonesca mentions overcoming challenges in her statement, because this announcement comes in the midst of a debate (mostly on Twitter) regarding accessibility and difficulty in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

The debate essentially boils down to Sekiro being too difficult for many players and the fear that this excludes disabled players by design. And for what it’s worth, options that allow disabled players to enjoy the game was a worthwhile topic of discussion, but things quickly devolved when people started arguing that this necessitated an easy mode (difficulty and accessibility aren’t the same thing) and how cheating fits into all this.  Honestly, it’s fine if players want to cheat, they can play however they like, but be aware that when done in a game like Sekiro — a game, much like other From Software titles, where the difficulty is a fundamental part of the gameplay — cheating sort of cheapens the overall experience. That said, you do you — what you do in a single player game is no one else’s business.

But at least there was one good thing to come out of this: the memes — they’re fantastic.

In the meantime, it’s worth noting that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice isn’t even a month old yet, so there’s a good chance we’ll be hearing about another milestone in the near future.