You can't just finish a game anymore

[Chronicler]

Elden Ring Loses Almost 90% Of Its Concurrent Players On Steam

Elden Ring was released to a great start and has been going strong for a long time, but losing players over time is inevitable, it seems.

exputer.com

Been seeing some talk about how this is a ridiculous way to talk about a single player game, but it does seem more and more to be a common way of thinking.

A game can't just be a product that people buy and play from start to finish, then call it a day. It's not a novel or a movie or a painting or any other art form. In the era of microtransactions, a game is expected to be a perpetual money factory. The goal is for people to play this game forever.

But like, just on its face that's absurd and unsustainable. People only have room for so many games like that in their lives. There are how many games being created every year? Every one of them aiming to be your Forever Game? This game doesn't even have any way to capitalize on continued play I don't think. At some point they'll probably release an expansion and then a lot of these same lapsed players will pick up the game, but its not like they actually get anything out of it if you log in every day from now until then. There's no daily special or anything, as far as I know.

 

[Antimatter]

Totally agree. That is an extremely odd title and topic to write an article about. Sounds like a fuss about nothing. Elden Ring gets so much press every day, even these days, that is the game that almost any "general gamer" has tried (I haven't - does it mean I'm not a general gamer?). Eldren Ring, from both users' and professional reviews, is a GOTY (especially now when Starfield is delayed to 2023). Yet, the thing they've decided to write about... is the decreased number of concurrent players... 3 Months after the game's release. Without any sales. For a single-player game. Silly.

 

[O_Bruce]

Seems like a bit of overreaction to me, both from the article and OP. It is obvious a single-player game is going to lose a player base over time. That's on the article. Second, I don't see anything remotely like "a game can't just be the product that people buy and play from start to finish". Calm down. That's on you.

Also, whether the game has ongoing support or not doesn't directly translate into replayability. For example, Super Mario 64 is, to this day, the most often speedrunner game in history, 26 years later. And it obviously was a game designed to play and be done with it. Compare with Evolve, released in 2015, planned for long-term support, servers shout down in 2018. You get the point.

EDIT. This is my 69th post. Nice.

 

[Chronicler]

I would bet you cash money that if we had the numbers for "Concurrent Players" of Mario 64 when it was released it would have had a similar drop off, even with its thriving speedrunner community.

 

[O_Bruce]

So what? What does that change expect nothing? Why would you even care what who says about the current player base? Play what you want when you want how long you want. It's that's simple.

 

[Chronicler]

So what? What does that change expect nothing? Why would you even care what who says about the current player base? Play what you want when you want how long you want. It's that's simple.

We're making conversation, dude. It's a forum. Humans are social animals and often find conversation to be fulfilling and enriching even absent of a larger purpose.

I saw an article in the news and I had some thoughts about how it was reflective of industry trends. I'm not worried anybody's gonna physically tear the games out of my hands or anything.

 

[O_Bruce]

We're not going to get along if you treat me as if I don't understand how humans work. That's fine by me, by the way.

One bit of a hint on how the process of communication works: person A sends a message, person B receives it, then the same person B sends feedback. If person B misunderstands the intent of person A, then the rest of the process is skewed. This also means the responsibility leans mostly on the first sender, person A. In this instance, if the title of the topic sounds as if the OP is venting, then don't blame the listener for getting the wrong idea.

 

[Chronicler]

Fair enough. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so condescending.

I haven't slept in a bit. I'm probably not communicating myself as clearly as I need to.

 

[Chronicler]

Read some figure about Portal once. I forget the exact percentage but like the vast majority of portal players never make it to the end credits.

I think that's a part of why videogame series don't tend to be very heavy on the continuity. A novel series can be like 18 books each assuming you've read all the prior books from start to finish, but videogames more often take the Final Fantasy route, where the games have a loose thematic connective tissue but the events don't really connect to eachother in the same way as like Wheel of Time or Harry Potter where they're all direct sequels to eachother.

 

[mlnevese]

Apparently, only multiplayer games are real games nowadays... Now if they just made local coop a more common thing. It's quite frustrating when I'm trying to find something I can play with my kids or my wife.

 

[Chronicler]

Hadn't even thought of that. As a kid I'd always have the party games with the four controllers on the TV. So much of multipayer gaming is online now I bet it's a totally different landscape if you just want to gather some kids under one roof and get your game on.

 

[mlnevese]

Hadn't even thought of that. As a kid I'd always have the party games with the four controllers on the TV. So much of multipayer gaming is online now I bet it's a totally different landscape if you just want to gather some kids under one roof and get your game on.

You basically have to buy a Nintendo if you want more diversity of local coop games. Forget Xbox, Playstation or Windows... I have been considering getting a Switch actually.

 

[Chronicler]

Is that still a fear parents have? I feel like videogames used to be a more solitary pursuit, but they've become so social over the years.

On the game grumps Arin Hanson once remarked that it's actually a return to what games have always been. Historically, a card game, any kind of sport you play with a ball, chess and other board games, it's all predominately been something you do with a friend. A game like solitaire is specifically named because of how unusual it is that you play it on your own.

Bringing it back to Elden Ring, it's ostensibly a single player game, but even a game like that has social elements these days. You can leave messages to other players. Summon strangers to fight against or alongside.

That's without even taking into account what social media has done to even otherwise solitary hobbies. We're all on a forum right now talking about games. Though actually now that I think of it I'm not sure how excited I'd be as a parent about my children being let loose on twitter to talk about their favourite shows or whatever. So maybe that's not a factor for a lot of parents.

 

[mlnevese]

Is that still a fear parents have? I feel like videogames used to be a more solitary pursuit, but they've become so social over the years.

On the game grumps Arin Hanson once remarked that it's actually a return to what games have always been. Historically, a card game, any kind of sport you play with a ball, chess and other board games, it's all predominately been something you do with a friend. A game like solitaire is specifically named because of how unusual it is that you play it on your own.

Bringing it back to Elden Ring, it's ostensibly a single player game, but even a game like that has social elements these days. You can leave messages to other players. Summon strangers to fight against or alongside.

That's without even taking into account what social media has done to even otherwise solitary hobbies. We're all on a forum right now talking about games. Though actually now that I think of it I'm not sure how excited I'd be as a parent about my children being let loose on twitter to talk about their favourite shows or whatever. So maybe that's not a factor for a lot of parents.

Not really worried yet as my kids are still learning to read/write. But online games with voice chats do expose them to some nasty things so I specifically look for online games with no voice interactions for them.

Anyway, my older kid does not like online games because he never wins... Trying to explain to him he's only 6 and needs to practice more doesn't improve his mood