Order of the Sinking Star sold 45% more units on Steam in its first week than The Witness did, according to a thank-you post published by Thekla, Inc. and Arc Games on the game’s Steam community page. The puzzle game from The Witness creator Jonathan Blow launched on October 8, 2026, and the developers say its opening week cleared the studio’s earlier hit on both unit sales and peak concurrent players.
The announcement reports an “Overwhelmingly Positive” Steam review rating built on more than 2,000 reviews, and states that the game exceeded The Witness’ peak concurrent player count on Steam by 33%. Thekla and Arc Games framed the figures as first-week milestones rather than a full sales report, comparing only Steam unit sales and each title’s highest simultaneous player count.
Alongside the headline numbers, the developers listed where the game placed during launch week. On Steam it reached the Top 5 of the Popular New Releases list, the Top 10 of the Top Sellers list for single-player games, and the Featured & Recommended carousel. The game also landed in the Top 15 best sellers on Nintendo eShop and in the What’s Hot section on the PlayStation Store.
The post also looks ahead rather than stopping at the milestone. Thekla and Arc Games acknowledged bug reports and level feedback collected through Discord and other channels, and said patches are being issued as quickly as possible. Work continues on performance across platforms and on localization, with Chinese voice-over narration planned to arrive soon and a Japanese version in development for consoles.
The figures trace back to a single first-party statement, so they should be read as self-reported launch metrics. Thekla wrote that the project began a decade ago as an ambitious “game design supercollider,” and credited press, content creators, and Twitch streamers for carrying the game through its first week. The studio has not published absolute unit or revenue totals, which means the 45% figure is a relative comparison against The Witness’ own first-week Steam sales rather than a disclosed sales count.
Sources
- Reporting source: Order of the Sinking Star First-Week Steam Sales Beat The Witness by 45%
- Primary announcement: A Thank You from Thekla, Inc. & Arc Games
