NetEase's upcoming third-person shooter, Once Human, boasts over 15 million global pre-registrations, a significant achievement highlighted by its Steam Next Fest success. However, a closer look reveals a notable difference: only 300,000 of those registrations are Steam wishlists. This disparity underscores the challenges of achieving comparable visibility and popularity on PC compared to mobile platforms, especially for a developer like NetEase with a strong mobile game portfolio.
While Once Human's Steam Next Fest performance was impressive, attracting the most demo players, the figures illustrate the stark contrast between PC and mobile markets. NetEase's PC-first approach for Once Human, while not inherently flawed, highlights the inherent difficulties in translating mobile success to the PC gaming landscape.

NetEase's PC Strategy: NetEase's focus on the PC market isn't inherently negative, but the data reveals a significant difference in audience reach and discoverability between PC and mobile. Even a major developer like NetEase faces considerable hurdles in replicating its mobile success on PC.
For players eager to experience similar gameplay while awaiting Once Human's release, exploring our curated lists of the best and most anticipated mobile games of 2024 offers a compelling alternative. These lists showcase hand-picked titles representing the cream of the mobile gaming crop.