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1.5 Million Wishlists Milestone
May 6, 2026 at 12:07 AM
Initial article on the 1.5 million Steam wishlists milestone and its community-growth context
Blight: Survival surpassed 1.5 million Steam wishlists in early March 2026, a number that placed it among the most-wishlisted indie games on Steam despite still having no announced release date. The milestone was acknowledged by Haenir Studio and Behaviour Interactive with a March 2026 developer update video and a deep-dive segment at the Future Games Show: Spring Showcase 2026 on March 12, 2026.
Date | Approximate Wishlists | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
April 2022 | 10,000+ | First Haenir Studio TikTok post (1.3 million views) |
November 2022 | Several hundred thousand within days | Gameplay reveal trailer; 1.25 million Steam page visits in three days; #48 on Steam's top wishlisted chart |
Late 2023 | 650,000 | Steady growth through devlogs and team-expansion announcements |
April 2024 | Significant uptick | Behaviour Interactive partnership announced as publisher |
Early March 2026 | 1,500,000+ | Sustained growth through 2025 devlogs and FGS 2026 spotlight |
Reaching 1.5 million Steam wishlists places Blight: Survival in the upper tier of pre-release indie games on Steam. The number is unusual because it accrued without a public release window, without paid marketing campaigns, and across a roughly three-and-a-half-year stretch since the November 2022 trailer. Most games in that wishlist tier have either launched, secured a release date, or been backed by a major publisher's marketing push. Blight: Survival reached the milestone primarily on momentum from the original viral trailer plus steady devlog updates.
The March 2026 developer update featured Creative Director Ulrik Langvandsbråten thanking the community directly. Ulrik framed the wishlist count as a sign of trust and used the moment to explain the studio's rebuild-from-scratch approach following the Behaviour Interactive partnership. Senior Creative Director Ashley Pannell echoed the same framing during a press interview at the Future Games Show 2026.
Community reaction was largely enthusiastic. The official Discord server, which had grown past 45,000 members by March 2026, hosted celebratory threads, fan art, and renewed activity around closed playtest recruitment. Skepticism remained limited to the long development timeline and the still-undefined release window. See Community for the broader community context and growth waves.
The 1.5 million wishlists milestone is one of three signals that 2026 is the project's most active year since the 2022 reveal: the milestone itself, the FGS 2026 deep-dive segment, and the platform confirmation for Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. Together they reset public expectations for the project's cadence going into the rest of the year. See Development History for the full project timeline.
