In Brief:
- Origins TCG reported more than 20,000 Steam wishlists during Steam Next Fest, plus record highs for concurrent players and new installs.
- According to the team, Origins was the festival’s top card game, and more than 4,000 people watched its streams at once.
- The Crimson Cup, a $10,000 prize pool tournament tied to the Next Fest demo, was set to begin its playoffs the day after the post.
A week into Steam Next Fest, Origins TCG says its Steam wishlist count has hit 20,000. The game also claimed a new high for concurrent players and its biggest-ever number of new installs.
In a post on X, the Koin Games title called itself the top card game in Steam Next Fest. It shared no player counts or install totals, and it didn’t explain how the card game ranking was worked out.
What a week!
• 20000 wishlists
• New concurrent player record
• Record number of new installs
• Top card game in Steam Next Fest
• Over 4000 people watching Origins streams at the same time
A big thank you from the whole Origins team, see you for the playoffs tomorrow!Origins TCGView on X ↗
The Origins TCG account opened with “What a week!” and added that over 4,000 people had been watching Origins streams simultaneously. A link in the post pointed to the game’s Twitch channel.
The post signed off: “A big thank you from the whole Origins team, see you for the playoffs tomorrow!”
Crimson Cup reaches the playoff stage
The playoffs in question are part of the Crimson Cup, which Koin Games set to run alongside the festival from Oct. 20 to 25. The tournament has three stages (qualifiers, playoffs and finals), and the playoffs and finals were scheduled for Twitch broadcast over the weekend.
In the Steam post that kicked off its festival run, the studio said: “The tournament has a $10k prize pool, and on top players can win tournament promo cards that will never be re-released.”
Prizes named in earlier announcements included exclusive 1/1 tournament promo cards, digital packs, booster boxes and cash. Players who reach the Top 32 start earning promo cards. Content creators got wildcard WC $0.0003238 ▼ -26.6% invites that put them directly into the playoffs.
On Oct. 5, the studio scheduled two more qualifiers for players outside the main time zone. The Americas qualifier was set for Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. EST, and the EMEA one for Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. CEST. Seven locations were also switched off to keep the tournament balanced.
Ranked play and referrals
When Next Fest opened on Oct. 19, the Origins demo already had Ranked Mode. That mode went live Oct. 15, with Grandmaster as the highest rung on the ladder. The same update brought a new home screen, playmats and reworked missions, and the studio said it fixed roughly 100 bugs.
The patch notes read: “Ranked Mode is finally here! Climb the ladder, earn prizes, and experience the sobering realization that everyone above you is somehow better at this game.”
During the festival, players can earn exclusive items by climbing the demo’s leaderboard. Koin Games also started a “Refer a Friend” program that gives packs to both the player who refers and the new recruits.
The final balance patch before the tournament landed Sept. 29. It introduced a location rarity system, reworked the card Twister Toss, increased the cost of three cards and added support for 13 languages.
Background
Origins is developed and published by Koin Games. Its Steam store page lists it as free to play with a Q4 2026 date. Turns are simultaneous and play out across three lanes, using a pool of more than 100 rotating locations. A match takes about seven minutes.
Its cast reimagines historical and legendary figures, Robin Hood and Mulan among them. The studio’s store page says every competitive card is free to earn, and cosmetic variants can be traded on the Steam marketplace.
Koin Games held several playtests ahead of Next Fest, one of them Big Bob’s Playtest Battle on Aug. 28. That event was the first to use the Conquest format, where players have to bring several different decks and opponents can ban decks.