Phoenix Labs’ Dauntless hits 2 million players and readies big expansion

Four years ago, the veteran team at indie game studio Phoenix Labs began working on a free-to-play game where you gather online with your friends and try to take down some giant beasts.

The Vancouver, Canada-based company finally launched the open beta for the game, Dauntless, in May, and they’re announcing today that the game has hit 2 million players. In taking on big beasts known as Behemoth, the gameplay is a lot like Capcom’s Monster Hunter World, the bestseller triple-A game that debuted for the consoles and PC in January (and itself has been a long-established series that’s immensely popular in Japan and the U.S.). The success of both games shows that players really love pounding the heck out of gigantic beasts.