Developers of Russian military game 'Squad 22: ZOV' dispute failure claims despite low player counts on Steam

The developers of "Squad 22: ZOV," a tactical game based on Russia's "special military operation" (SMO) in Ukraine, are pushing back against reports of the project's failure, despite data showing a sharp drop-off in players on the international distribution platform Steam.
The game, created by Russia's SPN Studio, was released on the domestic VK Play platform in late January 2025 before launching on Steam four months later. According to statistics from the third-party site SteamDB, the game's concurrent player count peaked at 50 on May 29, after which it saw a dramatic decline. Recent data shows daily player numbers have often fallen to single digits.
Alexander Tolkach, head of SPN Studio, acknowledged that the "main hype has died down" but rejected the notion of failure. "The game is currently available on various platforms," he told the Russian publication Podyom, listing RuStore, VK Play, and direct downloads as alternatives. He claimed that after Steam "pushed the game into the shadows" by removing it from recommendations and restricting access in some countries, players migrated to other platforms.
Tolkach stated that "nearly a hundred thousand players worldwide have played the game," which he described as "quite good" for a "niche and hardcore tactical project with a controversial story." He added that a "global update" for the game is currently in development.
The game, which depicts Russian forces in missions like the assault on Mariupol, was created with input from the Russian Ministry of Defence's Main Military-Political Directorate. Tolkach asserted that the project successfully "delivered its narratives" and sparked international discussion better than anticipated.