Publisher Left Thumbs publicly criticized Steam's delayed review process, stating that it harmed the launch visibility of Wheelchair Rush. The game had accumulated over 11,000 wishlists prior to release, but its peak concurrent players in the first 24 hours after launch was only 15.
Wheelchair Rush was originally scheduled for release on October 12, but only passed review on October 25, finally launching on November 1. Developer tlproductions stated that the game failed review at least once; a new issue received by the team on October 21 was that the resolution settings in the menu could not be operated using a controller.
The development team also stated that Steam did not allow them to reset the public release date, resulting in a lack of normal pre-launch hype and making the release feel sudden. The publisher noted that Steam had previously assured them that missing the original date would not affect standard launch visibility, but the actual outcome contradicted this claim.
At the time of data recording, Wheelchair Rush had a peak concurrent player count of 15 within 24 hours on Steam, with 3 players online in real-time and 11 user reviews, achieving a 90% positive rating. However, it remains uncertain how much the review delay impacted these results; the game's inherent appeal, uniqueness, and whether players were willing to pay $5 could also have influenced sales performance.