Have you ever gone duck hunting? It’s terrifying. Somehow those birds are always watching, ready, hiding just out of plain sight ready to get you. Mmm. On second thought I might have that experience confused with something else. Regardless, murderous animals are funny and horrifying, and it seems a lot of folks on Steam are in agreement as duck-based indie shooter Escape From Duckov has just pulled ahead of EA’s big AAA shooter Battlefield 6 in concurrent players.
Read More: There’s A Damned Good Reason Escape From Duckov Has Sold A Million Copies In A Week
Released on October 16, 2025, Escape From Duckov is a solo survival extraction shooter featuring ducks with guns who aren’t afraid to use them. It has that lovely charm that many indie games tend to get when they fuse an otherwise serious, well-executed genre with a not-so-serious premise: in this case, ducks with guns. And it would seem (h/t Dexerto) that us extraction diehards or those who just enjoy silliness aren’t the only ones drawn to these funny birds; the game has recently outstripped Battlefield 6 in concurrent players, successfully hopping over the popular milsim shooter in the top five most-played games on Steam at the time of this writing.
Read More: Arc Raiders Is So Good I’m Worried It Will Completely Take Over My Life
Humor aside, it’s a well-earned accomplishment as Duckov is by all accounts a very good game. Battlefield 6 does have a new season coming up in a few days, so Duckov’s lead may not last, but hey, for us extraction dorks, it’s a nice thing to see. And, hey, maybe the broader gaming community is warming up to extraction shooters a bit more? I’d be totally here for that ahead of Arc Raiders’ launch next week.
