Deceiving numbers

[Irene ❤]

There are multiple topics that talk about shrinking of palworld's 1 million playerbase to what is 22k today. Some calling it a dead game, others calling it a left over 1% elite.

On closer look, majority of top games only had about 20k - 60k. At #10 to #20 onward the numbers dropped from 80k to 40k. Can we say that 99% of games are dead?

Only top 5 games enjoyed 6 digits. Those games are not that bombastic either, it's mostly just the few shooter games with same maps where people play it over and over. In the game's design fashion the players couldn't possibly win against every random people all the time, so they kept retrying everyday to pump the numbers. The few extremely good players should have retired.

From steam's hardware survey, you will see that almost every nividia card model shared just 1% to 3%. Is RTX4090 dead because it is only 0.1%? No, it is an awesome video card. Similarly, the gaming population is actually nicely divided so that in 100 games there is about 1% to 3% share of population which is 10k - 20k. Those games are healthy and fun. Some are awesome.

In my opinion, the best way to judge the number is to view "total hours played". You will get this number :

Palworld 31m Hours

Compared to Palworld :
Elden Ring 29m
Final Fantasy XIV online 16m
DayZ 25m
VRChat 18m

It shows that the 31m hour game is way better. Most have probably finished the game and waiting for next patch. The game delivered that many hours of fun. It is an awesome game. Unlike the "top 3 games", you don't have to log in everyday to refresh your rank, to farm for XP to get loot drops. None of that crap. You don't have to pump the numbers.

As such, we should check out 'Total Hours' in future so that we will not be deceived by an overnight fame. I'm looking at you, Hogwarts Legacy - with only 5m total hours. Only a little 1/6 to what palworld has to offer.

[Azrub]

I don't like your point as well, to be fair.
Personally, I have 9000 hours on Black Desert Online, and 3200 on Guild Wars 2. I would never say that BDO is a better MMO, in fact I like the latter much more.

[Irene ❤]

Originally posted by Azrub:

Personally, I have 9000 hours on Black Desert Online, and 3200 on Guild Wars 2. I would never say that BDO is a better MMO, in fact I like the latter much more.

Correct. 9000 hours could meant you log in everyday to get stamps and rare loot, and so are many others doing it, the game can have 10k players everyday, but it doesn't mean it's a good game.

[Jaasrg]

That's what GaaS does to people, each time they start/look at a game and there isn't an update BAM the game's dead/abandoned/scam/etc.

[Yal]

Palworld launched with more content than Starfield, there's no rush to add more... better to let it cook until it's ready IMO

[Chroniko]

Remember guys if you're already completed the game there's no need to continue to play even further as what devs mention that you can play other games while you wait.

[Dakuna]

im checking player count, currently and discovered your post, im trying to determine a game to buy, Palworld seems to have everything im looking for in the game, but idk why the player count is low, helldivers got hit with bad media and still have high player count so what happen with palworld?

[Azrub]

Originally posted by Irene ❤:

Originally posted by Azrub:

Personally, I have 9000 hours on Black Desert Online, and 3200 on Guild Wars 2. I would never say that BDO is a better MMO, in fact I like the latter much more.

Correct. 9000 hours could meant you log in everyday to get stamps and rare loot, and so are many others doing it, the game can have 10k players everyday, but it doesn't mean it's a good game.

I did play BDO actively for around 4k hours because it's a korean grind-fest, and afk'ed it for around 5k since that game has afk farming methods. I wouldn't exactly describe grinding group of mobs in circle for 6 hours every day logging everyday to get stamps and rare loot.

[Defective Dopamine Pez Dispenser]

I miss the days when this kind of discourse didn't exist at all and we didn't have access to this data, frankly. It shouldn't matter one iota to our enjoyment of a game how many other people are playing it, unless of course we solely plan to matchmake with random strangers. If that's the case, I guess it's useful data. But if I'm enjoying something solo, or have a friend group or a buddy or two who want to play, I honestly could not care less whether 5 million or 5 people are playing it.

[McGoodGreen]

Originally posted by Dakuna:

im checking player count, currently and discovered your post, im trying to determine a game to buy, Palworld seems to have everything im looking for in the game, but idk why the player count is low, helldivers got hit with bad media and still have high player count so what happen with palworld?

If two million people bought a game where you Say your ABCs and the game literally ends when you say Z, would you be angry that two million players aren't still doing their ABCs months after the fact?

The game is in early access, it isn't done yet. People are gonna get bored and move on because that is normal and healthy to not repeat something to ad nausem when you don't have to.

MMO mentality has completely wrecked Gamers ability to enjoy something. You don't need to be hooked up to your game of choice getting a list of "Dailies" done while you wait for the next big update.

Early Access pumps people up because "in development" often means "will get new content periodically" as the game grows. But sometimes that growth will be completely restructuring things, maybe wiping things, but what Early Access does not mean is "Weekly updates and periodic events." In fact, it means the opposite. It means "A game being made, that might not even finish".

Not every game is meant to go on forever. And not every game that goes viral needs to maintain that hype train. Especially of the core buisness model has No need of a ridiculously high player base . There are no micro transactions, there is no need to pump out content and keep the net big so they can scrape every penny possible from whales.

They only need the developers have is to make a great game, and they can take as long as they need to do that.

[No' Name]

Where did you get the total hours for FF 14? lmao....

16 Million is the Player base, or around there abouts for FF 14, not total hours. The total hours for FF 14 would be in the BILLIONS, and would top anyone of the games you have on your char for hours per game....

[Fistraiser]

Originally posted by Aikido:

I miss the days when this kind of discourse didn't exist at all and we didn't have access to this data, frankly. It shouldn't matter one iota to our enjoyment of a game how many other people are playing it, unless of course we solely plan to matchmake with random strangers. If that's the case, I guess it's useful data. But if I'm enjoying something solo, or have a friend group or a buddy or two who want to play, I honestly could not care less whether 5 million or 5 people are playing it.

the numbers dont matter actually.some bad game journalists will use it as a talking point when they see the discussion being brought up multiple forums but thats because they are bad journalist and cant write a decent article.
Fact is the games already been a success from the sales alone.
Furthermore the devs have a lot better inside knowledge of stats and usually have someone for the company compiling data with trends etc.
People tend to make game is dead threads when they run out of ammunition to trash talk the game they dont like or are salty about something in the game.
Pay no heed to those people as they have no impact on the game.

[RasaNova]

Are people still actually talking about this? I thought the "game is dying" claims fizzled out weeks ago.

Edit - never mind I see boh is still there waving the flag with another name & pfp change.

[Defective Dopamine Pez Dispenser]

Originally posted by Fistraiser:

Originally posted by Aikido:

I miss the days when this kind of discourse didn't exist at all and we didn't have access to this data, frankly. It shouldn't matter one iota to our enjoyment of a game how many other people are playing it, unless of course we solely plan to matchmake with random strangers. If that's the case, I guess it's useful data. But if I'm enjoying something solo, or have a friend group or a buddy or two who want to play, I honestly could not care less whether 5 million or 5 people are playing it.

the numbers dont matter actually.some bad game journalists will use it as a talking point when they see the discussion being brought up multiple forums but thats because they are bad journalist and cant write a decent article.
Fact is the games already been a success from the sales alone.
Furthermore the devs have a lot better inside knowledge of stats and usually have someone for the company compiling data with trends etc.
People tend to make game is dead threads when they run out of ammunition to trash talk the game they dont like or are salty about something in the game.
Pay no heed to those people as they have no impact on the game.

Not only journalists, but other players will often do this as well in an attempt to support their arguments about a game's perceived quality or lack thereof. Which is just an appeal to popularity fallacy at the end of the day.

But aside from all that, I also just cannot bring myself to care if a game is a "success" or not, either. This was never a thing in my day (I am an ancient boomer as the kids today say, so please bear with me lol.) We never sat around and debated whether we were justified in enjoying... oh... I don't know... Star Tropics on the NES or something, on the basis of how many units it shipped. We just played our video games.

From where I sit, I got my game. I'm enjoying my game. I have a friend to play my game with. I'm not dependent upon other random strangers for my enjoyment, and I'm not buying the game on the basis of what future updates and content it might someday have. I'm not an investor or backer or a marketer for the game, so what vested interest do I have in whether the game is a financial "success" or not?

The only time I care at all about the success of a game - and even then only to the extent it ships and is enjoyable to me personally - is if I'm a direct backer for a Kickstarter or what have you, because then, obviously, I want the money I spent to result in it at least being funded and shipped. But as long as I'm having fun, I just could not care less personally otherwise.

Anyway thank-you for indulging this old head's ranting lol. It's just always been a pet peeve of mine. Is the game fun for me? Yes? Then that's all I care about.

[Fistraiser]

Originally posted by Aikido:

Originally posted by Fistraiser:

the numbers dont matter actually.some bad game journalists will use it as a talking point when they see the discussion being brought up multiple forums but thats because they are bad journalist and cant write a decent article.
Fact is the games already been a success from the sales alone.
Furthermore the devs have a lot better inside knowledge of stats and usually have someone for the company compiling data with trends etc.
People tend to make game is dead threads when they run out of ammunition to trash talk the game they dont like or are salty about something in the game.
Pay no heed to those people as they have no impact on the game.

Not only journalists, but other players will often do this as well in an attempt to support their arguments about a game's perceived quality or lack thereof. Which is just an appeal to popularity fallacy at the end of the day.

But aside from all that, I also just cannot bring myself to care if a game is a "success" or not, either. This was never a thing in my day (I am an ancient boomer as the kids today say, so please bear with me lol.) We never sat around and debated whether we were justified in enjoying... oh... I don't know... Star Tropics on the NES or something, on the basis of how many units it shipped. We just played our video games.

From where I sit, I got my game. I'm enjoying my game. I have a friend to play my game with. I'm not dependent upon other random strangers for my enjoyment, and I'm not buying the game on the basis of what future updates and content it might someday have. I'm not an investor or backer or a marketer for the game, so what vested interest do I have in whether the game is a financial "success" or not?

The only time I care at all about the success of a game - and even then only to the extent it ships and is enjoyable to me personally - is if I'm a direct backer for a Kickstarter or what have you, because then, obviously, I want the money I spent to result in it at least being funded and shipped. But as long as I'm having fun, I just could not care less personally otherwise.

Anyway thank-you for indulging this old head's ranting lol. It's just always been a pet peeve of mine. Is the game fun for me? Yes? Then that's all I care about.

Yeah this is what i tell a lot of people too over the years.(i came from same generation as you likely) I had Nes and comodore 64 my first 2 gaming devices.back then you just counted yourself lucky you had some games to play as the cost wasnt cheap back then especially if you compare the worth of currency back then to now.
The main importance of a game is having fun at the end of the day.its not important what others think.you buy game to satisfy yourself not others.

[Noob.45]

Ded