Double Fine’s Keeper Only Has ~100 Players on Steam — Is Game Pass Hiding the Real Audience?
Keeper, a short surreal puzzle game from Double Fine, is currently showing about 100 concurrent players on Steam, even though it launched on PC and Xbox Game Pass at the same time and has generally positive reviews.
- Keeper overview
- Player numbers and social discussion
- Game Pass and visibility differences
- Double Fine, Microsoft and business context
- Summary
Keeper overview
Keeper is a wordless, lighthouse-centered puzzle game from Double Fine. Critics and players have given the title positive scores; for example, it is listed on Metacritic. The game launched on Windows PC and was available on Xbox Game Pass at release.
Player numbers and social discussion
On Steam, public charts show Keeper drawing roughly around 100 concurrent players at the time those charts were checked. This figure has prompted conversation online because some users say they hadn’t realized Double Fine released a new game.
DoubleFine (Psychonauts devs) launched, Keeper, their new title yesterday. I'm hearing it's a 5 star game. Unfortunately, Xbox has decided for some reason that they aren't going to promote it at all, so less than 200 people on steam are playing it. Most haven't even heard of it. https://t.co/jK4zFYNSBe pic.twitter.com/P5zopy6qrS
— Del (@TheCartelDel) October 19, 2025
While that Steam number is concrete and visible, it represents only one platform. Microsoft does not publish Game Pass concurrent play figures, so Game Pass activity for Keeper is not publicly verifiable.
Game Pass and visibility differences
Game Pass releases are harder to measure publicly. Unlike Steam, where player counts influence store visibility and discovery, Game Pass performance is internal to Microsoft. Consequently, a game can have modest Steam numbers while still reaching many players through Game Pass.
Also, subscription services often rely on a large catalog of varied titles to retain subscribers. For context, a report noted that big AAA games can cost hundreds of millions to make, for example Call of Duty reportedly costs $700 million and multiple studios to develop. By contrast, Keeper is a smaller-scale release.
Double Fine, Microsoft and business context
Double Fine is a studio known for distinct, niche-focused games rather than mass-market blockbusters; an overview of the studio’s history and audience can be found at TheGamer. Microsoft acquired Double Fine as part of its wider studio group, which includes very large teams and well-known franchises.
Because Microsoft owns the studio and uses Game Pass as a major distribution channel, releases like Keeper can be part of a broader strategy to supply varied content to subscribers. In short, expectations for a Double Fine release under Microsoft likely differ from expectations for a Microsoft-owned mega-franchise.
Summary
Factually: Keeper shows ~100 concurrent players on Steam, it launched on PC and Game Pass, and it has positive reviews on Metacritic. However, Game Pass numbers are not public, so Steam counts do not tell the whole story. Therefore, Steam visibility alone is not a complete measure of a Game Pass release’s reach.
