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No Man's Sky drops below 1000 concurrent players on steam
- Thread starter Horse Armour
- Start date
hobblygobbly
Member
To put it into context, I just took this screenshot:
A very similar game with far less mainstream "hype". I don't recall Elite ever being on an E3 stage. It's also a few years old.
Also X3: Albion Prelude is the most niche space game out there due to game scope/difficulty (besides EVE), entirely singleplayer and been out since 2011. Then again it has a big modding scene. Not more than NMS yet, but a lot for this game.
In any case I was looking at some other games, these are great numbers too for entirely singleplayer games. Modding really keeps games alive:
Felix Lighter
Member
What are you talking about? That is exactly what makes it exceptional. It started extremely high and fell so incredibly far in just a handful of weeks. The company it keeps with that high of an all time peak are games that stay in the 10s of thousands months if not years after launch.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition beating it by that margin is kind of funny to me for some reason.
Nope.
I was trying to illustrate that, even if Sean is overwhelmed by the negativity or is depressed, someone from Hello games should have released a statement. A mea culpa would go a long way in quieting the crowds.
WaterAstro
Member
Arguing percentiles is stupid as it gives no context to actual numbers. If Mankind Divided had a peak of 200k+, it probably would have still fell off to 5k. Having a record launch for a non-multiplayer focused game is an achievement, but spinning it as a failure like this is just shameful. An indie studio like this isn't going to be bursting out with content patches to support the numbers like Fallout would.
Look at another high-profile indie game, Abzu. It only reached a peak of 1311 players.
It's the PC version, not the PS4 version. Sony doesn't care about this particular stat.
Felix Lighter
Member
No, you are completely wrong here. It literally gives us context.
Those sim games are crazy. People eat that shit uuup
I have a feeling their plan is to pop up out of nowhere with a big update to make it seem like people overreacted and they were just so hard at work they didn't notice the growing dissent among their playerbase.
And it will flop because they're surprising all of a dozen people.
And it will flop because they're surprising all of a dozen people.
Its amazing you spout these kind of things without any evidence to support that and then pretend its a certainly and that makes your argument right.
Vs actual math and accurate numbers.
I dont even wanna go back and read those threads cause theyre full of the same fanboys copy and pasting a list of features and interviews for NMS in response to anyone questioning what the game is about.
legacyzero
Banned
Even though I love the game, and I wager a lot of the haters fueling the fire never cared to play it even before launch, this is well deserved IMO. Sean botched this whole thing. Only a statement and news of the new content release will even put a dent in fixing this.
Mobius and pet octopus
Member
I remember the "this is how you play, 4 pillars of gameplay" trailers coming out, people were awed. I was like... that's the trailer? What did I learn? Absolutely nothing. Meanwhile the thread is breaking it down frame by frame to get blood from a stone.
WaterAstro
Member
Context that a non-multiplayer focused game from an indie studio isn't going to have legs?
What point are you trying to make? Are Hello Games supposed to be throwing out major updates every week?
Nah, this is just another NMS hate thread in disguise.
Because Mankind Divided did worse than No Man's Sky's launch. What's your point?
May have mislead lol to be honest Sean has cost sony a customer and also highlighted how shit sony policys are regaurding buggy software after the way i was treated i will not be spending money on their market place and when i am done with the back log of games thats it they annoyied me that much sorry about the rant
You have no idea how these games would have done if they hit the same numbers as NMS.
Stop pretending you 100% know they would have fell down the same.
Sword Of Doom
Member
If they discount the game after it's patched then people might give it another chance
PantherLotus
Professional Schmuck
I gave it a good 2-3 weeks (PS4). Discovered 20-30 planets, got a big ship, started working toward the center of the galaxy or whatever. I just forgot to check back in one day and never went back. It's not that I disliked it, though I don't blame those that are actively mad. It's just ... I never think about this game at all.
The demo stage (Warehouse) of the og THPS was ultimately more compelling than this.
The demo stage (Warehouse) of the og THPS was ultimately more compelling than this.
WaterAstro
Member
That's because Deus Ex would never be as good as No Man's Sky.
Are you for real?
WaterAstro
Member
I'm making a point. No Man's Sky sold 4 times better than Mankind Divided. Deus Ex has never hit that record before.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Let's release a BIG PATCH Y'ALL! Sony charges money for patches for let's release a BIG PATCH and save money since we are an INDIE studio!!!!11
WaterAstro
Member
They have been patching the PC version according to the steam store.
Ha! U fell for the bait.
Sword Of Doom
Member
How I interpret the drop is that a huge number of people bought it but there was no good word of mouth or "buzz" to sustain it. As people stopped playing, new players didn't fill their place.
It doesn't necessarily mean that people should be playing for 2 months straight to maintain those numbers.
Head of Vengarl
Banned
just for comparison, current top:
from that list only Paladins was released this year.
I stopped playing years ago but it makes me happy that TF2 is still doing work. That game deserves all the love.
BleedOrange
Banned
That says nothing about the quality of the game. Just that Sony had more marketing power than Square Enix....
Sony is ultimately the reason this is a $60 game with a ridiculous hype-to-actual-scope ratio and not a $15 PC-only release.
If this is true, I can't believe THAT many people bought into it. Even if half of those "lies" about the game were actually true, it still looked hella boring 😪.
Just saw this on Reddit. I wonder what the PS4 numbers are looking like considering it was the second biggest PS4 launch after Uncharted 4.
Sword Of Doom
Member
I think it's unfair to say Sony had more marketing power than SE. People forgetting how much buzz the game had when it was first revealed? Before Sony was even involved.
Marketing won't magically make games hit numbers like that
WaterAstro
Member
There's more reasons for the lack of new customers than "buzz". The price is the biggest factor as well as being on Steam, where everyone expects your game to go on a big sale.
I think the marketing is about the same. Both games had similar press coverage. I bet Deus Ex even had TV commercials where No Man's Sky didn't.
The $60 price is definitely the reason why people aren't getting into it. That's the only issue they should tackle.
Gen.Grievous
Member
Not for a singleplayer game hehe.Pretty incredible drop!
Sword Of Doom
Member
I agree and that's why earlier in the thread I said a discount post patch would probably help. But you seem to be in denial that the game was a huge disappointment for many and pretty much every discussion about the game is negative. That is obviously not going to help sell a game
Felix Lighter
Member
Context of where the game began and where it is now and the time period from launch. It allows us to compare it to other titles with similar peaks and their trends. We can look at percentages and compare it to similar games that may not have started as high but have a sense if the rate is abnormal. That is context. A single snap shot of the current population doesn't give us that.
What point am I making? The point is that NMS's rate of drop in active player base is exceptional. It is in no way typical. That is all. I do not have any hate for the game. I do find these numbers to be fascinating, though. I'm not sure why you would assume I'm suggesting anything about their update cycle though.
Reckheim
Member
Price was a big issue yes, the game however has plenty of other issues.
The Strokes
Banned
At this point no one will really care.
WaterAstro
Member
No Man's Sky isn't a typical game for reaching 200k+ peak either. Why don't you dabble on that number.
I don't have the PC version, so I don't know if the PC crashes and stuff are fixed if that's what you're talking about.
GuitarAtomik
Member
Please tell me this is bait lol.
AcademicSaucer
Member
You have to remember the hype, people were expecting to play this game for years. many on GAF were saying this was going to be the next Minecraft.
Man, Abzu. Only 35 concurrent players right now.
Further proof that me and mainstream gaming tastes parted ways years ago.
Methamatics101
Member
WHAT IS GOING ON!!!
it sold that much on hype and lies. it's launch sales is not a reflection of it's quality. the severe drop off is
How does this have anything to do with your assertion that Deus Ex would have always dropped to below 5k no matter what it launched at? You've done nothing to prove or explain this. Why wouldn't it just be the same monthly percentage drop as it has now?
But that's precisely why this is such an exceptional case.
For a game to hit as high of a peak as 200K concurrent, and THEN fall to such a low well beyond the typical low in only 2 months is a massive sign that the game was not holding its playerbase. I'm not really sure why you're trying to debate this
Your assumption that this is just another NMS hate thread goes more to show where your biases lie though, so I'm not entirely shocked.
Also X3: Albion Prelude is the most niche space game out there due to game scope/difficulty (besides EVE), entirely singleplayer and been out since 2011. Then again it has a big modding scene. Not more than NMS yet, but a lot for this game.
In any case I was looking at some other games, these are great numbers too for entirely singleplayer games. Modding really keeps games alive:
New Vegas representin'.
