113 replies to this topic

[Monkey Lover]

Looks like the down turn has started. Map updates and balance stuff has been fun but its not enough. Whats going to save this game so it will be around next year?

[Gagis]

Current trajectory is enough for next year, but the year after that depends on MWO getting some sort of endgame content.

There is a distinctive skill gap in Tier 1 Quick Play between good quick play players and top end competitive players, and that gap is where countless players have quit the game after "completing" quick play and having no further challenge to keep them interested. Faction play was supposed to be the end game people move into at that point, but it is dead. Competitive play serves for some but it requires the kind of time and dedication that many cannot afford, so it is not enough to sustain a population of players.

2022 will have to be the actual year of FP or there will have to be some new alternative end game for the game to stop hemorrhaging skilled players. There's just not enough to keep players engaged once they get as good as they can get in quick play matches.

The map updates and Cauldron's work are important intensive care to keep the game alive, but not enough to heal it.

Edited by Gagis, 02 August 2021 - 12:33 AM.

[Vxheous]

We will have to see what the population will be after September before we can actually comment about the downturn, since EVERY SINGLE YEAR, summer is a downturn (circled in red)

Edited by Vxheous, 02 August 2021 - 12:44 AM.

[justcallme A S H]

Monkey Lover, on 02 August 2021 - 12:24 AM, said:

Looks like the down turn has started.

Huh? So far July

2021: 21,180
2020: 16,943
2019: 18,854
2018: 28,140

June/July traditionally the quieter months and always dips, tack on the world reopening/vaccine passports et al.

I would not say major cause for concern yet when it is still higher than the previous 2 years and following similar trends.

[Saved By The Bell]

NOW I prefer old canyon and old polar.

When I think, they are going to crash HPG next...

I know I am almost alone, so dont troll me.

Alfa laser vomits and dont move teams are disgusting too.

[Monkey Lover]

Lockheed_, on 02 August 2021 - 12:46 AM, said:

oh no what terrible news! it's summer, covid restrictions are lifting everywhere, people are eager to get outside and socialize again, but this decline for sure has nothing to do with it! the end is coming! oh why did I spend money on the warden pack now that the servers for sure will be shut down at the end of the year!

Guess we can hope for more covid restrictions next year to get people to come back

[Monkey Lover]

justcallme A S H, on 02 August 2021 - 02:50 AM, said:

Huh? So far July

2021: 21,180
2020: 16,943
2019: 18,854
2018: 28,140

June/July traditionally the quieter months and always dips, tack on the world reopening/vaccine passports et al.

I would not say major cause for concern yet when it is still higher than the previous 2 years and following similar trends.

Vxheous, on 02 August 2021 - 12:42 AM, said:

We will have to see what the population will be after September before we can actually comment about the downturn, since EVERY SINGLE YEAR, summer is a downturn (circled in red)

You are correct its the same as its always been. A downward trend.


What is going to change this?

[ScrapIron Prime]

A nine year old game on the internet has 21,000 active players? We won’t be holding a wake just yet.

But yeah, balance passes aside, what does PGI have up its sleeve?

[Wildstreak]

Where did this chart come from? I highly doubt this game has that many players.

[pattonesque]

Monkey Lover, on 02 August 2021 - 04:22 AM, said:

You are correct its the same as its always been. A downward trend.


What is going to change this?

So it kind of feels like you're purposely misunderstanding things here. Summer always comes with a decline in players because folks are out doing other things. If the decline continues into the fall, then there's more of a problem.

[Vxheous]

Wildstreak, on 02 August 2021 - 05:10 AM, said:

Where did this chart come from? I highly doubt this game has that many players.

Chart comes from Jarls list, which pulls all data from the official mwo monthly leaderboards. Any account that has played more than 10 games shows up, and gets counted as a player.

[Daneel Hazen]

More maps, make it cheaper so when new people show up they get hooked and make a modest investment. It's an old game, time to make it cheap. I spend a lot on it and won't feel cheated after this long or anything... I imagine most people who are BT fans would feel the same. Just want some people in here... even spheroids. >_<

[Curccu]

Monkey Lover, on 02 August 2021 - 04:22 AM, said:

You are correct its the same as its always been. A downward trend.
What is going to change this?

autumn?

Edited by Curccu, 02 August 2021 - 05:51 AM.

[Bud Crue]

Monkey Lover, on 02 August 2021 - 04:22 AM, said:

You are correct its the same as its always been. A downward trend.


What is going to change this?

The player population has been trending downward literally since the second month that the stats were made publicly available. So lets be honest, nothing is going to change that trend in the long term. We will continue to get short term respite via things like the Cauldrons efforts and PGI's here and there willingness to make small investments (hiring Daeron to interface with the Cauldron, hiring Francois to modify the maps, etc.) but in the next few years, in all likelihood the games population will get so low as to make playing it untenable, even if PGI were to keep the servers running forever.

Hell, I was amazed that it lasted more than six months after MW5's release. To me, we've been playing on borrowed time and I shall continue to do so as long as it lasts and be appreciative of the efforts that the Caudron and yes, even PGI, are putting forward to keep this mess running for as long as possible. Why worry?

[Monkey Lover]

pattonesque, on 02 August 2021 - 05:27 AM, said:

So it kind of feels like you're purposely misunderstanding things here. Summer always comes with a decline in players because folks are out doing other things. If the decline continues into the fall, then there's more of a problem.

No, i understand just fine. If we have the same trend as years before then its downward. We have to be staying flat to even mean anything.

If there is really nothing to be added to the game you will see a exponential decrease over next 6 months.

[Vyx]

PGIs been phoning it in for over 2 years. The customers know this.

The only thing to change the observed downward trend would be for the above fact to be refuted … with real tangible evidence.

You can guess at the odds for that to occur.

[Nightbird]

It's just normal, especially if quirks get a patch this month I don't see us losing more than the normal summer blues.

[w0qj]

I see new players joining MWO both ingame and on this Forum

I also see sales of the Stryker + Warden Booster Packs are good

I also see older players (including myself) returning back to MWO

And even right now, things are a lot better than it was one year ago (Aug'2020).

Cauldron quirk patches upcoming in a few months...
New mech variants coming every few months...

I'm happy

[ScrapIron Prime]

w0qj, on 02 August 2021 - 07:06 AM, said:

Cauldron quirk patches upcoming in a few months...
New mech variants coming every few months...

I'm happy

Yup, I'm in for the duration. Or at least until Bethesda comes out with a Skyrim sequel. So... maybe 8 more years?

[pattonesque]

Monkey Lover, on 02 August 2021 - 06:49 AM, said:

No, i understand just fine. If we have the same trend as years before then its downward. We have to be staying flat to even mean anything.

If there is really nothing to be added to the game you will see a exponential decrease over next 6 months.

We have the same trend as years beforehand because people just shoot fewer robots in the summer for reasons outside of how good shooting robots is. We still have more people playing this summer than we did last summer. If we hit the fall and the population continues to decrease, that will be bad. If it rebounds like it has historically, that'll be a different story.