The Game Census
RetroArch cover art

RetroArch

Libretro · 2022-05-27

Steam

Free To Play

RetroArch is an open source and cross platform frontend/framework for emulators, game engines, video games, media players and other applications

RetroArch is a 2022 Free To Play game that is free-to-play, with an estimated 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 owners and a Very Positive sentiment (89% of 9,800 reviews).— census verdict as of 2026-09-20

284
playing now
89%
positive of 9.9k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
1,000,000–2,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Verified
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
Free
steam price (US)

284 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 11:00 UTC (census sample)

RetroArch is a free and open-source, cross-platform frontend for emulators, game engines, video games, media players and other applications. It is the reference implementation of the libretro API, designed to be fast, lightweight, portable and without dependencies. It is licensed under the GNU GPLv3. RetroArch runs on many computers, home consoles, handheld consoles, smartphones, smart TV's, single-board computers and web browsers. As of 1 April 2024, versions for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 are not out yet, but are available unofficially.

Trailer

RetroArch trailer thumbnail

RetroArch - Trailer

≈329,283 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 284 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 1,076 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~135/week).
  • · Review velocity up 1% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 3% of 9,495 Free To Play games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-30

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
86586520212026Week of 2021-09-01: 482 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 68 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 209 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 865 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 201 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 137 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 101 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 145 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 154 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 183 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 235 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 177 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 206 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 138 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 161 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 201 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 173 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 158 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 139 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 137 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 23 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 172 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 167 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 141 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 146 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 153 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 116 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 113 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 176 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 117 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 166 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 145 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 140 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 141 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 139 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 118 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 113 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 122 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 91 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 90 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 271 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 180 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 144 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 112 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 134 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 23 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 121 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 100 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 23 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 124 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 134 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 111 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 102 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 105 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 113 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 112 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 127 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 109 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 118 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 125 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 112 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 106 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 110 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 86 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 21 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

8602842026-09-15 12:00 — 386 players2026-09-16 20:00 — 634 players2026-09-18 04:00 — 472 players2026-09-19 11:00 — 442 players2026-09-20 19:00 — 860 players2026-09-22 02:00 — 617 players2026-09-23 10:00 — 317 players2026-09-24 17:00 — 584 players2026-09-26 01:00 — 719 players2026-09-27 08:00 — 425 players2026-09-28 16:00 — 596 players2026-09-29 23:00 — 628 players2026-10-01 07:00 — 339 players2026-10-02 14:00 — 534 players2026-10-03 22:00 — 711 players2026-10-05 06:00 — 377 players2026-10-06 14:00 — 401 players2026-10-07 21:00 — 567 players2026-10-09 05:00 — 433 players2026-10-10 12:00 — 415 players2026-10-11 20:00 — 762 players2026-10-13 03:00 — 562 players2026-10-14 11:00 — 284 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
545162Sep 2021Aug 2026Sep 2021 — avg 280 · peak 475Nov 2021 — avg 162 · peak 294Jan 2022 — avg 211 · peak 345Mar 2022 — avg 175 · peak 361May 2022 — avg 276 · peak 619Jul 2022 — avg 343 · peak 551Sep 2022 — avg 355 · peak 593Nov 2022 — avg 334 · peak 545Jan 2023 — avg 384 · peak 619Mar 2023 — avg 380 · peak 767May 2023 — avg 395 · peak 682Jul 2023 — avg 391 · peak 613Sep 2023 — avg 373 · peak 637Nov 2023 — avg 368 · peak 616Jan 2024 — avg 447 · peak 728Mar 2024 — avg 452 · peak 774May 2024 — avg 442 · peak 735Jul 2024 — avg 421 · peak 668Sep 2024 — avg 441 · peak 707Nov 2024 — avg 417 · peak 666Jan 2025 — avg 494 · peak 811Mar 2025 — avg 477 · peak 775May 2025 — avg 467 · peak 796Jul 2025 — avg 487 · peak 775Sep 2025 — avg 465 · peak 745Nov 2025 — avg 469 · peak 739Jan 2026 — avg 510 · peak 872Mar 2026 — avg 545 · peak 923May 2026 — avg 502 · peak 811Jul 2026 — avg 497 · peak 839Aug 2026 — avg 542 · peak 892
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Chart history

PositiveNegative
17172026-09-212026-10-142026-09-21: 17 new positive2026-09-22: 2 new positive2026-09-24: 2 new positive2026-09-24: 1 new negative2026-09-25: 1 new positive2026-09-25: 1 new negative2026-09-26: 4 new positive2026-09-27: 3 new positive2026-09-27: 1 new negative2026-09-28: 1 new negative2026-09-29: 4 new positive2026-09-30: 3 new positive2026-10-01: 2 new positive2026-10-01: 1 new negative2026-10-02: 3 new positive2026-10-03: 2 new positive2026-10-04: 1 new positive2026-10-04: 1 new negative2026-10-05: 2 new positive2026-10-05: 2 new negative2026-10-06: 3 new positive2026-10-06: 1 new negative2026-10-07: 2 new positive2026-10-08: 3 new positive2026-10-09: 3 new positive2026-10-11: 5 new positive2026-10-11: 1 new negative2026-10-12: 4 new positive2026-10-13: 2 new positive2026-10-13: 1 new negative2026-10-14: 4 new positive2026-10-14: 1 new negative
New Steam reviews per day (census review snapshots). Positive above the line, negative below.

Attention

4471582026-06-01 — 212 pageviews2026-06-05 — 447 pageviews2026-06-09 — 260 pageviews2026-06-13 — 291 pageviews2026-06-17 — 306 pageviews2026-06-21 — 247 pageviews2026-06-25 — 258 pageviews2026-06-29 — 405 pageviews2026-07-03 — 288 pageviews2026-07-07 — 286 pageviews2026-07-11 — 227 pageviews2026-07-15 — 233 pageviews2026-07-19 — 208 pageviews2026-07-23 — 170 pageviews2026-07-27 — 265 pageviews2026-07-31 — 163 pageviews2026-08-04 — 204 pageviews2026-08-08 — 199 pageviews2026-08-12 — 206 pageviews2026-08-16 — 169 pageviews2026-08-20 — 173 pageviews2026-08-24 — 205 pageviews2026-08-28 — 158 pageviews2026-09-01 — 173 pageviews2026-09-05 — 167 pageviews2026-09-09 — 189 pageviews2026-09-13 — 169 pageviews2026-09-17 — 170 pageviews2026-09-21 — 271 pageviews2026-09-25 — 165 pageviews2026-09-29 — 209 pageviews2026-10-03 — 286 pageviews2026-10-07 — 237 pageviews2026-10-10 — 214 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxFull controller supportSingle-playerMulti-playerPvPOnline PvPLAN PvPShared/Split Screen PvPCo-opOnline Co-opLAN Co-opShared/Split Screen Co-op65 DLC

19 supported languages: English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese - Portugal, Portuguese - Brazil…

Post-launch support: 65 DLC released, first 2020-06-03, latest 2024-05-24 (Steam store data)

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

2D1980sCo-opRetro1990'sArcadeClassicSoftwareOld SchoolSimulation

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.