An old videogame titled Spacewar reached a record player count on Steam recently, hitting an unexpected peak of over 100,000 users. Despite its age, this game from 1962 is seemingly enjoying renewed interest, likely caused by the ongoing popularity of another title called Schedule 1.

SteamDB’s player count ranking currently lists Counter-Strike 2 in the lead, followed by Dota 2 and the breakout hit Schedule 1. Interestingly, only a fraction of the players will genuinely be engaging with Spacewar, suggesting that the surge in player numbers is predominantly due to piracy.

How might this be happening? It’s suspected that the number of new players is further facilitated by piracy mechanics. The launch of Schedule 1 has coincided with this spike in Spacewar’s activity, implying a connection between the two titles.

For those unaware, Spacewar is available for free on Steam and can be accessed easily by using the AppID in a browser with Steam installed. Its source code is included in Steam’s SDK, providing developers with learning resources on networking and community features. However, this same accessibility might be allowing pirated game copies to utilize Spacewar’s AppID to gain access to Steam’s multiplayer functions.