Disappointing sales of the game on steam with peak concurent players only 9k on the day of release

[EzyPzyJapaneze]

This one is very odd for me, on one hand this game is incredibly polished with only some minor bugs here on there, even in the advaned early access and the reviews were overwhelmingly positive across metacirtic, opencritic, and even steam reviews has very positive ratings, yet the game did not sell well for some reason, why? Someone might argue , because the game is on game pass.

But compare this game to stalker 2, that was on game pass from day one aswell, it had over 100k concurent players on steam on the day of release. Indiana Jones game only has 1/10 of that, just a little bit over 9k concurent users playing.

Why is that? It boggles my mind, because on one hand Indiana Jones game is incredibly polished since release and stalker 2 pretty much was a half baked release that lacks most of the promised features and is so broken, even the mods couldnt fix them all. Yet the game was played by 10 times more users than Indiana Jones, the great circle.

Was it the overhyped marketing campaign of the stalker sequel, or the much bigger fanbase the original game has ammased over the years?
Someone could argue Indiana Jones movies aren't as hot as they were in the 80's so that maybe one of the reasons why the game did not sell so well.

I don't know personally, Iam simply perplexed as to why is this happening. We need both of these games, stalker 2 and Indiana Jones The Great CIrcle, because they're both singleplayer campaigns, which in todays gaming market, is slowly and steadily starting to become a rarity these days.

What are your thoughts, why is this game so overlooked on release? Is it the lackluster marketing campaign or what happened here. Because Indiana Jones The Great Circle is most definitely one of the best games of 2024 and I dare to say it's the best game of 2024 for me, beating Astrobot and Indika.

[KC_Hotpocket]

It could be just me, but this game looks and feels like a re-skinned Starfield. That's why this Bathesda game looks polished.

[Balmung]

So what? This game is also in the XBox game pass and a single player story game is the ideal game for that. It is also a Indiana Jones game, they where never a wide broad mass games. It is also a Monday release. At the end the sell numbers over all platforms after at least a week are important. Not the first day, not on such a game, this is no multiplayer and also not a that big hype game.

[Balmung]

Originally posted by KC_Hotpocket:

It could be just me, but this game looks and feels like a re-skinned Starfield. That's why this Bathesda game looks polished.

Bethesda is here only the publisher, the developer has nothing to do with Bethesdas own produced games.

[Vizionblind]

Originally posted by KC_Hotpocket:

It could be just me, but this game looks and feels like a re-skinned Starfield. That's why this Bathesda game looks polished.

lol no

[Ceilidh]

Game is currently 4th in Steam global sales charts (excluding hardware), which is quite impressive, for a game that is competing with such titles as the long awaited Path of Exile 2, Marvel Rivals, and the permanently placing third Counter-Strike 2 (a free game).
It is also in a relatively niche genre (stealh/infiltration + puzzle), and despite it being a well known franchise, a lot of people were waiting to see what the game really is about at release. Considering how the previous action game in the franchise sold and scored, I would say that waiting for reviews was a smart move.
This one's DNA can be traced back to Escape from Butcher's Bay, which has achieved cult status, and that was what had me bite the bullet and get it.

Also, currently, EU people are still at work and it's still early in the USA, and that's without talking about the fact that the game is a "day one on Gamepass", which means that sales number are basically irrelevant, considering Microsoft global strategy, and Steam concurrency is also just a minute part of the picture.

It is way too early to call it a "low seller", and that is, as I said above, not supposed to be a big seller anyway, but a game that is supposed to have people subbing to Gamepass.

Game has a "Mighty" rating on Opencritic (which is way better than Metacritic for so many reasons), and most reviews on Steam are positive, giving the game a "very positive" score.

Give it a few days to have the dust settle, but I'm quite confident that it's going to be a success. Not a huge one, mind you, again, it's a niche genre, but a success nonetheless.

[Pathan Renard]

it's on game pass, it's story heavy, you'll only play through it once, no mod-support...
that explains why this one goes mainly over game-pass vs. stalker 2 still having so much steam purchases.

I think only hardcore fans, boomers who don't know game-pass and "collectors" (if you can "collect" digital licenses that is) would opt to pay over 70$ vs 15$ for a game they probably only play through completion (or half) once.

[AdahnGorion]

Originally posted by Pathan Renard:

it's on game pass, it's story heavy, you'll only play through it once, no mod-support...
that explains why this one goes mainly over game-pass vs. stalker 2 still having so much steam purchases.

I think only hardcore fans, boomers who don't know game-pass and "collectors" (if you can "collect" digital licenses that is) would opt to pay over 70$ vs 15$ for a game they probably only play through completion (or half) once.

So was lots of other games with similar budget and they still had above 200k concurrent players, some of the lower AA budget had over 50k.

This game is not very popular on steam, nor on PC gamepass (PC Gamepass is bleeding and is not making a net profit) Xbox Gamepass is doing very well, but that is because people are forced to buy it to play online, so they buy a year at a time.

Overall this game is a flop. But that does not matter to me or those that play tbh, the most important thing is that those that play the game (albeit very few) like it,.

[Einstine]

Playing it for free on Gamepass with a free month I got when buying a TV.

[Strexxin]

If you played it you wouldn't see why it is odd that player count is low.

The game is mostly a walking simulator where it hand holds you through the entire thing, nothing in it is even remotely complex. The combat, stealth and puzzle systems all feel like barebones beta versions.

[smidlee]

Everyone is claiming this is on gamepass but was Starfield numbers this bad at launch? 9,000 on steam does sound extremely low.

[AdahnGorion]

Originally posted by Strexxin:

If you played it you wouldn't see why it is odd that player count is low. The game is mostly a walking simulator where it hand holds you through the entire thing, nothing in it is even remotely complex.

This game is a game made for the casual mainstream on console. If you look at most MS games or EA for that sake, you will notice the same pattern.

[AdahnGorion]

Originally posted by smidlee:

Everyone is claiming this is on gamepass but was Starfield numbers this bad at launch? 9,000 on steam does sound extremely low.

People have learned that these studios are not independent (same with Bethesda) they are just Xbox game studios and they make casual console games for the mainstream.

PC players are looking in other directions.

[AquaryusDelights]

Originally posted by Ceilidh:

Game is currently 4th in Steam global sales charts (excluding hardware), which is quite impressive, for a game that is competing with such titles as the long awaited Path of Exile 2, Marvel Rivals, and the permanently placing third Counter-Strike 2 (a free game).
It is also in a relatively niche genre (stealh/infiltration + puzzle), and despite it being a well known franchise, a lot of people were waiting to see what the game really is about at release. Considering how the previous action game in the franchise sold and scored, I would say that waiting for reviews was a smart move.
This one's DNA can be traced back to Escape from Butcher's Bay, which has achieved cult status, and that was what had me bite the bullet and get it.

Also, currently, EU people are still at work and it's still early in the USA, and that's without talking about the fact that the game is a "day one on Gamepass", which means that sales number are basically irrelevant, considering Microsoft global strategy, and Steam concurrency is also just a minute part of the picture.

It is way too early to call it a "low seller", and that is, as I said above, not supposed to be a big seller anyway, but a game that is supposed to have people subbing to Gamepass.

Game has a "Mighty" rating on Opencritic (which is way better than Metacritic for so many reasons), and most reviews on Steam are positive, giving the game a "very positive" score.

Give it a few days to have the dust settle, but I'm quite confident that it's going to be a success. Not a huge one, mind you, again, it's a niche genre, but a success nonetheless.

Hmmm.... let's see veilguard, top 3 seller, flopped.

Silent hill 2 remake top 2 seller, flopped.

Alan wake 2, top seller on epic games, flopped hard.

Star wars outlaws, top 5 seller on steam, flopped.

All 4 had much higher player counts on day 1 then this game has by a mile...

The argument that a game being a top seller on steam can only work if it was compared to every game on steam as if they were all selling the same they did on day 1, which means, this game would not even touch anywhere near a top seller at that point if it can only muster around 10-15 k on day 1... At least silent hill 2 remake and veilguard had 250k at one point...

Also those same games and more games were also available in other areas and console and yet...still flopped.

Could it be that steam has always for years and years been a good indicator of if a game is selling well or not? Seems everytime one of these kinds of games releases with lower player counts, there is always these same excuses that pop up and yet the end results of a flop always happens in the end...

[Einstine]

Originally posted by AdahnGorion:

PC players are looking in other directions.

Yes, for example, I'm looking up right now.

[Ceilidh]

Originally posted by AdahnGorion:

This game is not very popular on steam, nor on PC gamepass (PC Gamepass is bleeding and is not making a net profit) Xbox Gamepass is doing very well, but that is because people are forced to buy it to play online, so they buy a year at a time.

Genuinely curious about where people get concurrency numbers for Gamepass.

I see a lot of people claiming that the game is tanking there, but to the best of my knowledge, there is no way to get those numbers, except through Microsoft, and Microsoft hasn't said a thing yet.

Last person I asked about this basically said that "they saw it on twitter", and linked to me some weirdo grifter's video trying to farm outrage.

If you got a reliable source for this, I'd gladly take it.