Deep Rock Galactic is a co-op game about rough-and-tumble dwarves doing deep space mining under the harshest conditions imaginable, but its community of players has turned it into one of the most wholesome games out there. When they’re not, you know, killing each other in friendly fire incidents.
Developer Ghost Ship Games has released its annual year-in-review statistics chart for Deep Rock Galactic, running down 2023 stats like total units sold, average hours played, and rounds of beer ordered. One of the most fun stats is the rundown of the top five causes of death. Number one is fall damage, which claimed nearly 49 million lives, and number two is the glyphid grunt, a super-common enemy type that killed nearly 24 million players.
The Allegedly Wholesome Dwarf Game Grapples with a Growing Friendly Fire Crisis (Crediys: Game Radar)
But it’s number three that’s stressing me out: friendly fire. Team kills have accounted for 20,672,505 player deaths, which is way, way higher than the other glyphid enemy types that fill in the number four and five spots. As the devs explain, “All of the above death causes have decreased year-over-year (well done, miners), except for ‘friendly fire,’ which increased 2.59% compared to 2022.”
Folks, friendly fire is a quick way to annoy teammates and end friendships. I know it’s effectively impossible to fully avoid the occasional team kills in this kind of chaotic co-op game, but making it the number three cause of death? Personally, I’m blaming the 155 million beers everybody drank this year.
Maybe the actual most notable stat here is that Deep Rock Galactic has now sold over 8 million units, including 2,567,251 in 2023 alone – the best year of sales the game has enjoyed in its entire lifetime. That famously wholesome Deep Rock Galactic community just keeps getting bigger.
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