Portalarium lets real player numbers slip

urinal_goose

Tech Lord/CEO Chris Spears states that 1/2 to 1/3 of SotA players are still using Steam. Given that the peak number players in the last month was 176, it's fair to say that there are perhaps 700 at the most playing this game. This is a far cry from Richard "Lord British" Garriott's statement last year that they were within "shooting range" of "tens of thousands" of monthly active users.


Your thoughts? Why the disparity in numbers?

Hillt

You should add another option of "All the Above" I would have picked that one. 

Reality is that we all knew the numbers were more inline to what Chris stated, but most people didn't want to hear there. They want to believe that the game is thriving with new players. But then every 6 months there are posts on the forums with opinions on how to attract new players bc they know there are none. 

They all seemed to think that Port actually had an advertising budget and that sending emails to people who used to play was going to make a difference. In truth, the money that Port is saving from working from home has only gone into the current staff's pockets. They never intended to save for marketing the game. 

alkarionlog

what? a PR declaration and they lied about it? never happen before.....

Kyleran

Hmm, with numbers like that, surprised they are able to keep the doors open.

Oh wait, they got rid of all of the doors....

Ungood

Numbers in a live game can drop by thousands over the course of a year.. I wager that an In development game has even less hold, as well as a huge number of people that may have logged in at the start, realized that alpha/beta testing was not there thing, and have taken a wait and see approach.

Vrika

urinal_goose said:

Tech Lord/CEO Chris Spears states that 1/2 to 1/3 of SotA players are still using Steam. Given that the peak number players in the last month was 176, it's fair to say that there are perhaps 700 at the most playing this game. This is a far cry from Richard "Lord British" Garriott's statement last year that they were within "shooting range" of "tens of thousands" of monthly active users.


Your thoughts? Why the disparity in numbers?

It's much more than 700 players playing the game.

Steamchart's current average is 106 players online. If we assume that 42% players are using Steam (a number between those 1/2 and 1/3), it would mean they've got total average of 252 players online.

If we assume each player spends average of 12 hours a week in the game, with that they'd have 3 528 players.

Amathe

Shooting range is not exactly mathematically precise.  Sounds more like an aspirational goal, not a measurement. 

I can claim that I am within shooting range of having preternaturally large privates. Shooting range, mind you, not um, actual range. 

Lokero

Arterius said:

They have to have some crazy ass whales to keep themselves a float

Just keep selling your blood to those crazy whalepires, Richard.

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Sovrath

Baalzharon said:

Proof people don't want these old MMOs. Need to make MMOs that people actually enjoy

No, it's proof that bad games or games that don't cater to a decent sized audience, don't do well.

The few times I've tried this game it did not feel finished. Additionally, the world doesn't feel like "a world." Something the old games did have as this game has maps that you can reach by traveling on an "over world" map.

I should add that the combat seemed a bit odd as well. I understand that they had some sort of deck building system or whatever it was. I never really saw that but it could be because I chose a different way show the skills. In any case that had its own detractors.

Utinni

Baalzharon said:

Proof people don't want these old MMOs. 

This isn't an old MMO, it's just a bad game.

urinal_goose

Vrika said:

urinal_goose said:

Tech Lord/CEO Chris Spears states that 1/2 to 1/3 of SotA players are still using Steam. Given that the peak number players in the last month was 176, it's fair to say that there are perhaps 700 at the most playing this game. This is a far cry from Richard "Lord British" Garriott's statement last year that they were within "shooting range" of "tens of thousands" of monthly active users.


Your thoughts? Why the disparity in numbers?

It's much more than 700 players playing the game.

Steamchart's current average is 106 players online. If we assume that 42% players are using Steam (a number between those 1/2 and 1/3), it would mean they've got total average of 252 players online.

If we assume each player spends average of 12 hours a week in the game, with that they'd have 3 528 players.

Crap, I meant 1/4 to 1/3, which is what he says in the livestream.

BetaTank

I don't see any real answers available in the poll, is this just a straight troll post?

Geeky

Utinni said:

Baalzharon said:

Proof people don't want these old MMOs. 

This isn't an old MMO, it's just a bad game.

Correct.

urinal_goose

BetaTank said:

I don't see any real answers available in the poll, is this just a straight troll post?

What's your idea of a "real" answer?

Hillt

Considering this game hasn't offered anything NEW since release other then a few new places people are getting bored with it. it's the same monsters, same scenes, same UI, broken quests etc. They have forsaken fun for ensuring balance which has driven people away. 

sarbonn

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm one of those rare players that actually plays the game. I've been part of a guild that is highly active in the game and does a lot of the content. We also build a lot of the player-built parts of the game (they now have dungeons that can be built by individuals and entire guilds). But having said that, yes, it is tragic that this game isn't doing better because it is a spiritual successor to Ultima, and not just because the designer is the guy who created Ultima. It's one of those worlds that you realize could have been so much better if there was actually a crowd playing it, but that it's only going to be as strong as it is now because of the dedicated groups of people still playing it today.

My love for the game is that it can be quite difficult and hard to win. The beginnings are simplistic and easy, but as you build yourself and get into higher level content, it because extremely difficult. That's one of the things I've liked and hated about it.

My saddness about this game is how I will wander into a player run town and feel like it's a graveyard that feels like it was decorated just a few days ago. There's no one there, but there are vendors and structures and all signs of life, kinid of like you stepped into a world where the gods have just removed the people.

And then you'll wander into another town or city, and it's lively with actual players. And you'll be surprised and wonder why it's not this way in every city.

My biggest fear is that they're just going to turn off the lights and the game will die overnight. This has happened to me in numerous games of the past (which tells me that I kind of suck when it comes to choosing sustainable games). I was a huge fan of Garriot's other project Tabula Rasa, and it was sad to see them switch that game off in an instant. I was there when both Star Wars Galaxies and City of Heroes were unplugged. Most people don't really get to experience the loss of losing a game you really love.

But the game isn't making money. I know that. I wish more people would play, but the time for that happening seems to have passed, and the critics are always so toxic, rather than joining conversations with a desire to hopefully make a game better. I think a lot of people take way too much pleasure in watching something fail, to the point of not even wanting to do anything to help it do otherwise.

ChildoftheShadows

Hillt said:

You should add another option of "All the Above" I would have picked that one. 

Reality is that we all knew the numbers were more inline to what Chris stated, but most people didn't want to hear there. They want to believe that the game is thriving with new players. But then every 6 months there are posts on the forums with opinions on how to attract new players bc they know there are none. 

They all seemed to think that Port actually had an advertising budget and that sending emails to people who used to play was going to make a difference. In truth, the money that Port is saving from working from home has only gone into the current staff's pockets. They never intended to save for marketing the game. 

Or just to keep a minimal staff and servers online. Sometimes things are done out of greed...

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The user and all related content has been deleted.

KTROz

sarbonn said:

But the game isn't making money. I know that. I wish more people would play, but the time for that happening seems to have passed, and the critics are always so toxic, rather than joining conversations with a desire to hopefully make a game better. I think a lot of people take way too much pleasure in watching something fail, to the point of not even wanting to do anything to help it do otherwise.

The thing is, people have tried.  For years.  Remember, the game was supposed to launch in 2013.  It missed every date provided and instead of providing reasons, only asked for more money.  Which was given.  And then more money.  They went from Kickstarter to direct solitication to SeedInvest, constantly taking money.  

The forums are constantly curated to ensure any critical voices at all are removed, and have been like that for years.  The devs, now down to one full time dev who is also the CEO, constantly brush off player complaints or critique.  There's a post last week where a long time faithful player offered to buy stuff in the store if the dev would just play his own game.   Aka "eating your own dog food" in tech talk.  The dev flat out refused and said devs do not play their own games, which is madness.  

RG has had minimal to do with the game for years and this year has none.  In the past 12 months he's been on the board for 8 responses, all of them with a few words.  He's attended multiple game conferences and talked about being an astronaut and Ultima, but never SotA.  When SotA had it's "official launch", he took his family to the North Pole.  

All of us who backed the game, over 65,000 of us before they took the counter off a year ago, have looked at what we have paid for and walked away.  There is under 1000 accounts playing the game, with many of those operated by the same people.  Several large donors have mentioned they have "dozens of accounts."   Those people, who still fork out money and put twich-bits in Chris' jar, are the only ones even partially being heard.  Everyone else does not matter to him at all.  

I'm sorry the game you wanted isn't here.  It didn't turn out to be the game I paid for either.  

Hillt

 

Exactly. All you have to do is look at the main game forums and see all of the suggestions to help this game improve. Month after month people come up with suggestions and ideas to improve the game and how to cater to new comers. But it is only met with resistance from the devs. Their excuse to all of the suggestions is that it will throw off balancing without even testing or trying out new ideas. The devs have run this game into the ground in the name of balancing.

They continue to throw the same creatures into the game as new content except with higher HP. People who still play the game can't see that Richard hasn't contributed anything since release. He barely knows whats in the game when he speaks during live streams.  

The critics aren't toxic, it's just the game is really bad. Unless you like doll housing, dress up, and dance parties this game has little to offer. Players have to pay real money to offer prizes for their own made up contests because you can't get anything worth wide from the game. 

Xee2018

bah I am trying to find where in the video he states the numbers.  I jumped through it twice now can't find where its talked about.  anyone know the time frame in the video approx? thanks

Kyleran

sarbonn said:

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm one of those rare players that actually plays the game. I've been part of a guild that is highly active in the game and does a lot of the content. We also build a lot of the player-built parts of the game (they now have dungeons that can be built by individuals and entire guilds). But having said that, yes, it is tragic that this game isn't doing better because it is a spiritual successor to Ultima, and not just because the designer is the guy who created Ultima. It's one of those worlds that you realize could have been so much better if there was actually a crowd playing it, but that it's only going to be as strong as it is now because of the dedicated groups of people still playing it today.

My love for the game is that it can be quite difficult and hard to win. The beginnings are simplistic and easy, but as you build yourself and get into higher level content, it because extremely difficult. That's one of the things I've liked and hated about it.

My saddness about this game is how I will wander into a player run town and feel like it's a graveyard that feels like it was decorated just a few days ago. There's no one there, but there are vendors and structures and all signs of life, kinid of like you stepped into a world where the gods have just removed the people.

And then you'll wander into another town or city, and it's lively with actual players. And you'll be surprised and wonder why it's not this way in every city.

My biggest fear is that they're just going to turn off the lights and the game will die overnight. This has happened to me in numerous games of the past (which tells me that I kind of suck when it comes to choosing sustainable games). I was a huge fan of Garriot's other project Tabula Rasa, and it was sad to see them switch that game off in an instant. I was there when both Star Wars Galaxies and City of Heroes were unplugged. Most people don't really get to experience the loss of losing a game you really love.

But the game isn't making money. I know that. I wish more people would play, but the time for that happening seems to have passed, and the critics are always so toxic, rather than joining conversations with a desire to hopefully make a game better. I think a lot of people take way too much pleasure in watching something fail, to the point of not even wanting to do anything to help it do otherwise.

On the plus side it sounds like you could market yourself as a consumer "harbinger of failure."

Hope it keeps running for the sake of those who still enjoy playing.

DracSchnider

RG in a very old interview stated higher numbers it was based on Kickstarter backers which was at a peak.  Today the growth is still happening but not in large droves.  Last time they looked at the metrics on the twitch they showed on average 50 new accounts a month which is not too much but still growth. 

I can tell you in the town I am in its always busy, where other towns are indeed empty and feels that way so I can relate to one poster above.  As to new stuff there has been lots of new things added but you are right not many new places for us high levels, but that is coming.  next patch they are adding more skills for players and I think it was 2-3 new locations (1 redone completely) the others brand new.

There is a big announcement coming soon, they wont say, rumor has it they have a new partnership which developers for ep2.  But that is unconfirmed and we are still poking the devs on the stream to tell us lol..