this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2024
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I don't understand this obsession with player numbers unless it is a full fledged MMO where player numbers matter to a degree and up to a certain point. But for games like this it doesn't really matter.
Because it shows many people are playing it. That in itself may be of interest to people who are considering purchasing the game. Also it let's the devs know there is a market potentially interested in DLC or sequels. If the news was that player counts dropped to a very small number, neither of those things are likely to happen
I mean, I started playing once I heard how popular it was.
Pokémon with guns didn’t really interest me as a description but it turns out it’s fun when you try it.
If so many people hadn’t been recommending it. I would’ve never known.
At some point when something gets so popular, you try it just to see what you’re missing out on even if you don’t think it’s gonna be your cup of tea.
And it’s really more like Pokémon mixed with ARK
That's basically my experience with it too. Saw all the recommended videos on YouTube when it first released, I kept seeing tons of comments saying how fun it was. I finally decided to check it out after I watched Lets Game it Out play it, and yes it's basically just cartoon Ark, but it works. It also actually works a bit better than Ark, so that's also a plus.
Even if it's not an MMO, player count can be a very strong indicator of enjoyment/income at a given time. Even if it's a single player game, player count can show how popular a game is on whole. If a 5yo game still has engagement numbers above newly released games, it's strongly correlated with studio income/gamer trends.
They can base future decisions on what they did correctly/incorrectly, and develop their next game/dlc/etc with those lessons learned.
Release a game that has nobody playing after a month? Crapbasket. Release a game that has well into a million players despite the age? Fucking masterpiece.
Currently in the industry there are two ways to get the "big money" without resort on MTX and GaaS.
"big day one selling carnival". With few exception with titles such as Skyrim and GTAV (which have multiple "day one" or duble-dip), this is how the AAA industry makes the big money: the very first days is where the publisher try to recover+earn money as whole. Later copies sold are mostly for bundles or special offer.
Early Access program. That's where Palworld fall into. With few exceptions, this is the primary tool for indie developer that can't invest money in marketing "big day one carnival". It's safer because route because they don't to compete with the "day one carnival" from other AAA publisher. And can know straight away how much money they need to scale up (or down) their vision for the project (something WB couldn't have when they went the suicide squad route)
Basically, for Palworld have success (or not) alter how the product scale the game itself will be.
It works like free marketing for a successful title
As far as marketing... It is binign