Backpack Battles has become another indie hit. The game's creators announced on social media that it took only two weeks of early access on Steam to sell half a million copies.
Backpack Battles
Backpack Battles is a PvP auto-battler focused on the strategic management of items in your inventory. Players fight using items from their backpacks, and the arrangement of those items determines the battle's outcome.
Backpack Battles was created by the German indie studio PlayWithFurcifer, which comprises two people. As the developers admit, Backpack Battles was initially a side project they took on to distract themselves a bit from their main game—a roguelike called Furcifer's Fungeon in the spirit of Vampire Survivors. However, Backpack Battles unexpectedly started gaining popularity.
In one of their latest YouTube videos, the creators of Backpack Battles shared that they started actively working on the game in 2023. In May of that year, PlayWithFurcifer released a demo on Steam, which peaked at over 100 online players. The game's audience grew significantly over the summer after Chinese streamers noticed Backpack Battles, and the studio, not wanting to miss the opportunity, added a Chinese language option to the demo with the help of publisher IndieArk. Over time, Backpack Battles caught the attention of streamers worldwide and evolved from a side project into the studio's main focus.
Backpack Battles was released in early access format on Steam on March 8, 2024. Just under two days later, its sales reached the first major milestone—100,000 copies sold.
Currently, it holds a "very positive" rating on Steam. At the time of this writing, users have left over 5,700 reviews on the platform, 94% of which are positive. Regarding online activity, according to SteamDB, the peak on March 13 saw 36,557 people playing Backpack Battles simultaneously.
Online dynamics of Backpack Battles on Steam