Dead On Arrival (with data!)

[Magpie]

The games that people claim they want and what they will actually play are two different things. People like the idea of another competitive RTS, but they don't actually want to play one. And if they do they're already playing one that's actually good.

To see how Stormgate is doing let's have a look at the current SteamCharts player numbers, shall we?

Company of Heroes 2: 3,457
Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront: 2,602
Age of Empires II: 13,503
Company of Heroes 3: 2,933

Stormgate? 1,174

Well, numbers don't lie. Stormgate is dead on arrival. How do the hopepigs explain it? I can see cope all over the forums but that isn't going to save this game. Even the people that bought-in to early access aren't interested in actually playing. So that really tells me everything I need to know, conclusively. I hope ya'll learned your lesson.

See you all in Tempest Rising which will probably be really good.

[Daimos]

You nailed it, when you said: "People like the idea of another competitive RTS, but they don't actually want to play one." The money is in the SPECTACTORS, not in the pro gamers. This is true, for virtually any sport on earth. Soccer players get paid 100m per year NOT, because they can kick that ball so well, but because, countless people love to WATCH them kicking that ball, with skill.

[jonoliveira12]

CoH was also DoA, to be fair.
Still, it is true this game is running against far better ones both already on the market, and launching sooner than this is.

SG would have had a chance, if it launched 5 years ago, where the only real competition would have been AoE2HD.
Nowadays? It stands no chance against teh actual RTS revival going on, where only the best games survive, because the RTS playerbase is INCREDIBLY PICKY!

[Doomvora]

Magpie鹊 a écrit :

Company of Heroes 2: 3,457
Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront: 2,602
Age of Empires II: 13,503
Company of Heroes 3: 2,933

Stormgate? 1,174

Ah yes, the ftp game with a buy in pre-release is doing "poorly".

I would argue this data means nothing until the 13th.

[jonoliveira12]

Doomvora a écrit :

Magpie鹊 a écrit :

Company of Heroes 2: 3,457
Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront: 2,602
Age of Empires II: 13,503
Company of Heroes 3: 2,933

Stormgate? 1,174

Ah yes, the ftp game with a buy in pre-release is doing "poorly".

I would argue this data means nothing until the 13th.

No, in the 13th it will have a massive spike. Truth will be known about 2 moths since F2P release.

But still, it is not looking good at all. Launching with 3 missions, and forcing you to pay $10 per each 3 mission pack, will not go well.

[Larkis]

Magpie鹊 a écrit :

The games that people claim they want and what they will actually play are two different things. People like the idea of another competitive RTS, but they don't actually want to play one. And if they do they're already playing one that's actually good.

To see how Stormgate is doing let's have a look at the current SteamCharts player numbers, shall we?

Company of Heroes 2: 3,457
Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront: 2,602
Age of Empires II: 13,503
Company of Heroes 3: 2,933

Stormgate? 1,174

Well, numbers don't lie. Stormgate is dead on arrival. How do the hopepigs explain it? I can see cope all over the forums but that isn't going to save this game. Even the people that bought-in to early access aren't interested in actually playing. So that really tells me everything I need to know, conclusively. I hope ya'll learned your lesson.

See you all in Tempest Rising which will probably be really good.

You missed an important point here, which droves your data invalid.

Stormgate is a Free to Play Title. So currently only the people wo backed at kickstarter, and cant wait 2 weeks are here to play.

The mostly sane gamers would think "i dont need to buy the game now, cause i can play it for free in a few days". You can bring the numbers in a few weeks after the "real" F2P Early Access Release. Then we can talk.

Currently you just show how many people are just be able to spend money now.

[Magpie]

Doomvora a écrit :

I would argue this data means nothing until the 13th.

Cope of the highest order. It's raw data. It's very telling when the people that payed for the game can't be bothered with it. f2p won't save it.

[jonoliveira12]

Magpie鹊 a écrit :

Doomvora a écrit :

I would argue this data means nothing until the 13th.

Cope of the highest order. It's raw data. It's very telling when the people that payed for the game can't be bothered with it. f2p won't save it.

Yes, this game was HIGHLY preordered, several people financed it with crowdfunding, and tehy ALL will have copies. That even they who invested so much cannot bother to play it, shows how the game is really doing.

People wanted the next huge campaign (like WoL) with lots of options and side missions, not what SG actually is.
That is why teh devs are surprised most players went to campaign, instead of MP.
Nobody cares about MP, only a small minority, and Coop is dead when you do not get to know the characters in a good campaign.

[Larkis]

Magpie鹊 a écrit :

Doomvora a écrit :

I would argue this data means nothing until the 13th.

Cope of the highest order. It's raw data. It's very telling when the people that payed for the game can't be bothered with it. f2p won't save it.

Where is the Data how many people had preordered / kickstartet? That is what we need to put the number in context.

[Doomvora]

Magpie鹊 a écrit :

Cope of the highest order. It's raw data. It's very telling when the people that payed for the game can't be bothered with it. f2p won't save it.

I never said it would? I simply said the data doesn't really mean anything until the 13th when the way the game was designed to be played is opened up for everyone, then the data will matter. The data as it is now is like using the numbers for pre-release journalism players to determine if a game is going to be okay or not.

jonoliveira12 a écrit :

No, in the 13th it will have a massive spike. Truth will be known about 2 moths since F2P release.

But still, it is not looking good at all. Launching with 3 missions, and forcing you to pay $10 per each 3 mission pack, will not go well.

Agreed, 2 months after f2p release will show whether the game has any kind of life left in it, and like most f2p games it likely won't outside of a couple thousand diehard fans.

The RTS genre is already niche nowadays so I'm not really surprised at the numbers when people can rationalize that f2p is coming in a few weeks.

[jonoliveira12]

Doomvora a écrit :

Magpie鹊 a écrit :

Cope of the highest order. It's raw data. It's very telling when the people that payed for the game can't be bothered with it. f2p won't save it.

I never said it would? I simply said the data doesn't really mean anything until the 13th when the way the game was designed to be played is opened up for everyone, then the data will matter. The data as it is now is like using the numbers for pre-release journalism players to determine if a game is going to be okay or not.

jonoliveira12 a écrit :

No, in the 13th it will have a massive spike. Truth will be known about 2 moths since F2P release.

But still, it is not looking good at all. Launching with 3 missions, and forcing you to pay $10 per each 3 mission pack, will not go well.

Agreed, 2 months after f2p release will show whether the game has any kind of life left in it, and like most f2p games it likely won't outside of a couple thousand diehard fans.

The RTS genre is already niche nowadays so I'm not really surprised at the numbers when people can rationalize that f2p is coming in a few weeks.

RTS is not that niche. This year alone is seeing a lot of RTS being launched, and last month AoMR was the 5th most preordered game on Steam.

RTS is actually slowly coming back, it is just that the market for it now is MUCH MORE UNFORGIVING, so any new RTS must be extremely good to compete for players.

[Daimos]

Yes, it seems that there is some kind new wave or RTS games coming. HOWEVER, this makes the job of FG even harder, because this means more competition. I guess, lots of RTS players aren't fans of the Blizzard style, so they will not blindly go for SG, "because it's Blizzard".

[jonoliveira12]

Daimos a écrit :

Yes, it seems that there is some kind new wave or RTS games coming. HOWEVER, this makes the job of FG even harder, because this means more competition. I guess, lots of RTS players aren't fans of Blizzard's style, so they will not blindly go for SG, "because it's Blizzard".

Yes. This game would have been a success if tehre were not a lot of new and returning RTS games already springing forth.

As it is, soo this game will be competing with Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, for playerbase, not any of the new games, or the evergreen AoE2DE and AoMR.

Games like Tempest Rising and Beyond All Reason will eat this one alive, and even Godsworn, also in EA, already offers much more bang for your bucks.

[Daimos]

jonoliveira12 a écrit :

Daimos a écrit :

Yes, it seems that there is some kind new wave or RTS games coming. HOWEVER, this makes the job of FG even harder, because this means more competition. I guess, lots of RTS players aren't fans of Blizzard's style, so they will not blindly go for SG, "because it's Blizzard".

Yes. This game would have been a success if tehre were not a lot of new and returning RTS games already springing forth.

As it is, soo this game will be competing with Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, for playerbase, not any of the new games, or the evergreen AoE2DE and AoMR.

Games like Tempest Rising and Beyond All Reason will eat this one alive, and even Godsworn, also in EA, already offers much more bang for your bucks.

I played the very first C&C, in 1995 and I loved it back then. This Tempest Rising looks great. I don't know how it plays, but it definitely looks amazing. It looks SO MUCH better, than SG, that it... changes the meaning of the phrase: "Blizzard veterans". -_-

[jonoliveira12]

Blizzard veterans is honestly a red flag. All modern Blizz games are brand selling disappointments.

[XartaX]

It is fair to say that for the full picture you need to wait until after the 13th. But it's also fair to say you have to wait for the initial rush to pass.

This initial reception disaster doesn't necessarily reflect how the game will end up after that, but it sure as heck will have a negative impact on it on PR alone unless it somehow completely blows up after the 13th (which I doubt).

Most likely we'll see a spike, followed by a falloff over a few days, followed by a gradual decline.