Steam - Game Player Counts

Well, the renaissance is over, boys. Will be interesting where crpgs go from now.
Some downscaling but that may not be a bad thing.

Originally Posted by BoboTheMighty
Well, the renaissance is over, boys. Will be interesting where crpgs go from now.
Some downscaling but that may not be a bad thing.

Where will CRPGs go?

The standout CRPGs will become more simulationist in their design and prioritize a reactive world, if D:OS is any indication on what sells.

XCOM like games will continue to take off as these are selling quite well on average. Maybe CRPG developers should be paying attention because I think Phoenix Point and Phantom Doctrine are looking like next gen RPGs in terms of story design innovations and they will sell heaps.

If we're talking about Indie developers for CRPG's then we have no problem, but if we take a look at Triple AAA developers we have a lot to worry about search google.

I'll summarize it briefly.

Traditional model Single-player games is fading, and the rise of the GaaS Model.

Just look at theses comments from a recent interview with Amy Hennig.

“There was quite a dilemma a few months ago about EA and this question of whether single-player games are “dead.” What do you think about that?”

“To be fair, they didn’t actually say that. I think that, like everything in our world today, the bad versions get around the world before the truth can get its pants on. Did Churchill say that? I think so. It’s really tough. Shawn talked about that in relation to Sony. God bless Sony for supporting these kinds of games, because they’re terrifying to make. They’re very expensive, and it doesn’t suit the model of having a massive open world or hours and hours of gameplay or running a live service, which is what everybody is shooting for these days.”

“It’s not that we’re looking at the death of single-player games, or that players don’t want that. Some publishers are going to fall on one end of that spectrum or another based on their business plan. Fair enough. It’s just that the traditional ways we’ve done that are getting harder and harder to support. That’s why I’ve talked in the past about feeling like we’re in an inflection point in the industry. We’ve talked about this for a long time. How do we keep on making games like this when they’re getting prohibitively expensive? We don’t want to break the single-player experience, but there’s pressure to provide more and more at the same price point games have always been.”

“That isn’t sustainable, I believe. I think it breaks the purpose of a single-player game. I was saying to some people here, I play games because I want to finish them. I want to see the story. I like the arc of a story. I don’t see the ends of most games. How crazy is it that we say it’s about narrative, but we make games where a fraction of the audience sees the end of the game? That’s heartbreaking.

I hope that we see more shakeup in the industry. We’ll open up the portfolios — maybe with a subscription model — so we can see that there can be story games that are four hours long at an appropriate price point. We have digital distribution. That should be possible. We shouldn’t be stuck at this brick and mortar price point and trying to make more and more content, breaking the spirit of these games.”

“I don’t fault EA for that decision, as hard as it was personally for me. I understand the challenge. We have to come at this in different ways. I think it’s about portfolios of games at different price points that allow us to do more than just PUBGs and Fortnites and Destiny clones.”

Well, with games like CP2077, Starfield and ES6 on the way - I don't think AAA singleplayer CRPGs are going away just yet.

Then we have the middle-market stuff, like Elex and Greedfall.

I think it breaks the purpose of a single-player game. I was saying to some people here, I play games because I want to finish them. I want to see the story. I like the arc of a story. I don’t see the ends of most games.

Nothing about playing games to play them. Video makers provide an outcome: they offer a way to know and see the story. Works the same.

Originally Posted by Archangel
PoE2 only 200k LOL. So pathetic, but that is to be expected by that pathetic company.
#IamwithAvellone

RTwP products have no audience. Best part is that all the efforts they made to accomodate a non RTwP audience led them to nowhere near catching that audience.

POE1 or Tyranny are less accomodating yet they are where they are.

200K people are now in panic because Chien feels they're not worthy of being an audience

They do as they wish, the decline in numbers exists and is steep.

The various moves to seduce a non RTwP audience did not deliver.

Originally Posted by ChienAboyeur
They do as they wish, the decline in numbers exists and is steep.

The various moves to seduce a non RTwP audience did not deliver.

What did they do differently from PoE1?

One of the reason i didn't get PoE2 was that I hate RTwP and was sick and tired of it after PoE1, DoS2 and Tyranny. I only finished Tyranny out of those.

On the other hand, played and finished Age of Decadence, Dead state and Dungeon rats numerous times.

Originally Posted by Silver
Where will CRPGs go?

The standout CRPGs will become more simulationist in their design and prioritize a reactive world, if D:OS is any indication on what sells.

XCOM like games will continue to take off as these are selling quite well on average. Maybe CRPG developers should be paying attention because I think Phoenix Point and Phantom Doctrine are looking like next gen RPGs in terms of story design innovations and they will sell heaps.

I'm not sure that part is that important, but it definitely is the most tech advanced here, plus had a more vibrant art style and it's own take on TB.
One thing is pretty clear here: playing it safe does not work here. On the other hand, Darkest dungeon had a very unique, instantly recognizable art direction and gameplay mechanics, that attracted attention ( from people usually not interested in this)

Originally Posted by BlackVoid
One of the reason i didn't get PoE2 was that I hate RTwP and was sick and tired of it after PoE1, DoS2 and Tyranny. I only finished Tyranny out of those.

D:OS2 isn't RTwP…..

Originally Posted by BlackVoid
What did they do differently from PoE1?

Things that were written down as they appeared and aiming at decreasing the requirements to play. The process started from PoE1.