Indie Hit How to Fish Outperforms Modern Warfare 4 on Steam

Have you ever looked at the massive blockbuster shooters dominating the charts and wondered if a wacky indie title could ever dethrone them? It sounds wild, but that is exactly what is happening right now on Steam. A brand-new indie game called How to Fish is completely overshadowing the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta in concurrent player numbers, and the gaming community is taking notice.

Developed by Dazed Games, How to Fish launched on August 20 and has quickly turned into a runaway viral sensation. The co-op title has already surpassed an incredible 1 million copies sold. Even more impressive, it managed to peak at over 341,000 concurrent players today on Steam. For a title you can snag on sale for just under $5 right now—down from its regular $8 price tag—those are some seriously mind-blowing numbers.

To put that massive milestone into perspective, let's look at the competition. The early-access beta for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 managed to reach just over 115,000 concurrent players on Steam this past Friday. Since hitting that peak, the shooter's player count has been on the decline. That means How to Fish nearly tripled the peak concurrent player count of one of gaming's biggest military juggernauts on the platform.

So, what is this game actually about? How to Fish is a physics-based, co-op title that takes a totally silly approach compared to your typical realistic fishing simulator. In this game, you work together to reel in cod and sharks, but the fishing doesn't stop there. Once you pull them out of the water, you have to beat them by any means necessary to earn more cash. That means punching the aquatic creatures, stabbing them, and even pulling off ridiculous no-scope shots against them.

If that chaotic energy feels familiar, it might be because How to Fish is backed by Evil Landfall, the publishing and support side of Landfall—the team behind last year's surprise Steam hit, Peak. Both games fall right into that emerging, hilarious "friendslop" co-op genre where messing around with your pals is the primary goal.

In fairness to Call of Duty, this first test was an early-access beta restricted to people who preordered Modern Warfare 4 across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. If you want to jump in for free, an open beta is scheduled to run from August 28 through September 1. The beta even features a campaign mission for the first time ever, which lets players earn special rewards for the full launch. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is scheduled to officially hit PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Switch 2 on October 23.

Still, seeing a budget indie fishing brawler outpace an early Call of Duty trial by hundreds of thousands of players on Steam is nothing short of incredible. What do you think about How to Fish crushing the charts? Will you be picking this up to punch some sharks with your friends, or are you waiting for the Modern Warfare 4 open beta this weekend?