Open World Pirate Game Windrose Hits Impressive Player Milestone

Windrose has passed half a million players in its first 48 hours. First-time developer Kraken Express first announced the pirate MMO back in June 2025, though at the time it was called Crosswind, and the title has drawn a good deal of attention since. Early looks at Windrose made it seem like it would scratch an itch left by Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, and if its early access launch numbers are anything to go by, it might be living up to those expectations.

Things were already looking promising for the high seas survival title before it entered early access. By late February 2026, Windrose had passed one million wishlists on Steam, which is no small feat for a studio’s debut game, especially in a year stacked with massive upcoming releases. Now that Windrose‘s early access period has begun, it seems that plenty of those players followed through, wasting no time in jumping from the wishlist to actually buying and playing the game.

Windrose Ship Customization and Combat Guide

Here’s a brief guide covering the essentials of naval combat and ship customization in Windrose.

Windrose Has Already Passed 500,000 Players

On the morning of April 16, the official Windrose account shared that over 500,000 people had joined the game’s early access. Reaching half a million players is all the more impressive in light of the fact that the MMO is not a free-to-play title. It hasn’t been out for very long, either, as Windrose entered early access on April 14, so that figure could keep climbing. So far, it seems like the thousands of players who’ve already jumped into the game have liked what they’ve seen, too. At the time of writing, Windrose is sitting at a “Very Positive” rating on Steam, with 87% of its 5,000-plus reviews across all languages recommending the title.

This is not the first early sign of success for Kraken Express’ debut game. In February, Windrose‘s free demo attracted nearly 17,000 players despite only offering four to six hours of gameplay. After that demo launched, a whopping 93% of the game’s reviews were positive, and those trends seem to have largely carried over to the early access release. Reviews have leveled out a little, as may be expected with a vastly higher player count, but the game is still proving remarkably popular, with many players calling it the pirate game fans have been waiting for.

It may help that Kraken Express, formerly called Windrose Crew, has been proactive about bringing the game up to players’ expectations. After the free demo, devs promised several changes to Windrose ahead of its early access release, giving it a head start on ironing out the kinks that a game’s beta typically reveals. These changes aren’t done yet, either, as the Windrose team promised work was ongoing in its announcement thanking the half million people who’ve already hopped onboard. A new hotfix is coming on Friday, and devs assured fans that more would follow.

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Only time will tell if Windrose is what Skull and Bones should have been, but plenty of people certainly seem to think it might be. According to the game’s Steam description, it will remain in early access for another 1.5 to 2.5 years, so there is a long time left to go for impressions and player counts to change in either direction before its full launch. For now, though, things are looking good for the game and anyone left waiting for something to fill the Black Flag-shaped hole in their hearts.