'Evolve' Adds More Than 1 Million New PC Players After Going Free For Stage 2

Evolve's PC playerbase has increased by 1 million after becoming free-to-play about a week ago.

Evolve is a first-person shooter video game developed by Turtle Rock Studios and published by 2K Games. The game was released in February 2015 for Microsoft Windows, Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) and Microsoft Xbox One.

On July 7, the game developer re-launched the overhauled version of the game called Evolve: Stage 2 for PC. The game now has new gameplay mechanics, a refreshed design and overall improved gameplay. 2K Games and Turtle Rock Studios also confirmed that the game is now available for free for PC gamers.

"We're going to make Evolve free on PC as a Beta starting on July 7," said Chris Ashton and Phil Robb, the co-founders of Turtle Rock Studios. "Anyone who owns classic Evolve will be given 'Founder' status in the new free version, and all the content you already own comes with you to the new version. As long as we work on Evolve, we will show our appreciation for our committed fans and early adopters with gifts, rewards and special access."

At launch, the game was well appreciated by gamers. However, the playerbase dropped significantly in the next month, which may have made the game developers take the decision to make Evolve: Stage 2 free-to-play.

Turtle Rock Studios has now announced, via a tweet, that Evolve: Stage 2 has added about 1 million new PC players.

To celebrate the milestone, the game developer has also confirmed that players can claim Griffin's Blood Eagle Hunter skin for free. Gamers will just have to log in to Evolve: Stage 2 until July 18 and the skin will become available after the event ends on the same date.

According to Steam Charts, the June peak player count for Evolve: Stage 2 was 234. However, it has touched a peak of more than 51,000 since going free on July 7. The previous highest peak was at 27,403 in February 2015.

Reports suggest that the game was the 11^th most played game on Steam within 48 hours after becoming free. It remains to be seen if Evolve: Stage 2 can maintain these numbers in the near term.

Evolve: Stage 2 for PS4 and Xbox One is expected to roll out soon but the game developer is yet to confirm a time window.