ESO Playerbase - bigger on PC or PS4?

jedtb16_ESO · February 2017

Cadbury wrote: »

jedtb16_ESO wrote: »

Cadbury wrote: »

jedtb16_ESO wrote: »

SilentRaven1972 wrote: »

I'm sure both are well populated. The only advantage PC has is add-ons. It really depends on personal preference.

are you sure that statement is true?

Nothing wrong with addons...

i didn't say there was.... i question whether that is the only advantage

My bad. I thought you were one of the "Addons = cheating" people.

no not at all. i think they are a great idea....use a few.

idk · February 2017

@blaineswing_ESO

No one can properly answer your question since Zos has not released numbers. Merely guesses can be provided.

PC does offer addons which cannot be obtained for the consoles and is an advantage in many areas.

phairdon · February 2017

film wrote: »

DigitalShibby wrote: »

PC is much larger in terms of population. My source? Played PS4 since launch and am now on PC.

Doesn't PC have the least amount of campaign servers? Isn't that based on population? The only sales numbers we've seen PS4 about doubled PC, maybe not reliable but only info we actually have.

Thought it would be based on how many play pvp, rather than overall population.

NewBlacksmurf · February 2017

Prob more on PS4 just based on how consoles work vs PC overall but from month to month it'll vary based on releases games and the patch updates or dlc

phairdon wrote: »

film wrote: »

DigitalShibby wrote: »

PC is much larger in terms of population. My source? Played PS4 since launch and am now on PC.

Doesn't PC have the least amount of campaign servers? Isn't that based on population? The only sales numbers we've seen PS4 about doubled PC, maybe not reliable but only info we actually have.

Thought it would be based on how many play pvp, rather than overall population.

Not sure about the campaigns as I'm not on PS4 however I do have PC access and Xbox one access.

Sales wise....there were more sales in a given period of time but some ppl have both so it varies month to month.

KingYogi415 · February 2017

Each console has around 300k active users.

PS4 >

AdamBourke · February 2017

I haven't played on PC since the launch of console versions, but I can say that i was recently playing on the PS4/EU server at 3am in the morning and had no trouble getting people together to take down some world bosses in Orsinium.

I think that the population shouldnt determine your choice of platforms.

PC enables more hard-core gaming thanks to add-ons and providing and mouse precision, but the PS4 lends itself to relaxing gaming.

One advantage of ps4 is that if two people are both playing, you only have to buy it once. DLCs will need to be bought multiple times though (except morrowind).

Egonieser · February 2017

blaineswing_ESO wrote: »

DannyLV702 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure the PC world is a lot bigger, but that doesn't mean PS4 is lacking people

Thanks for the reply!

I saw a few people saying the exact opposite, about PS4 being bigger than PC. Haha. May I ask which version that you play?

Doubt it. ESO has been on the PC a lot longer, has more established player base and economy and PC gamers as a whole tend to stick around with MMO's a lot longer and also play it more frequently as the genre is relatively new to the consoles in comparison (yes there have been a few in the past on older generations, but you can count them on the fingers of one hand, and most have been flops anyway due to technical limitations of consoles and their networks).

And simply just walking around in any area (on EU at least) at any time of the day, there are absolutely loads of people around, every dolmen, every dungeon, every boss has hoardes massing around them, even in the middle of the night.

Obviously ZoS won't release any statistics, but when it comes to generic MMO's like this that are crossplatform or multi platform, PC's will almost always be certainly more populated.

Now this is a opinion not a fact, so before anyone decides to open up flamewars - think it through.

BlazingDynamo · February 2017

More importantly, both are bigger than xbone.

srfrogg23 · February 2017

I play on both the PC and the PS4. Neither is short on people. They're both so well populated that it's hard to spit without hitting someone, lol.

I do think the text chat on PC is much better due to having at keyboard for typing. Depending on your system, PC will also look and run better.

The PS4 version looks decent and it's pretty stable in terms of performance. It also has built in voice chat. Not to mention being able to lounge on the couch while playing.

They're both good options.

Prof_Bawbag · February 2017

ereboz wrote: »

Last I heard, Xbox is by far the biggest population. But it has a very healthy population on all platforms. I play on PC NA, and it's great

I moved over from the xbox to the PS4 and I've found the PS4 less populated. No more so than Rawl'kha. Not saying the PS4 EU Rawl'kha is a ghost town, but I simply found it a lot more populated on the Xbox. Same goes for the likes of Davon's Watch etc.

film · February 2017

phairdon wrote: »

film wrote: »

DigitalShibby wrote: »

PC is much larger in terms of population. My source? Played PS4 since launch and am now on PC.

Doesn't PC have the least amount of campaign servers? Isn't that based on population? The only sales numbers we've seen PS4 about doubled PC, maybe not reliable but only info we actually have.

Thought it would be based on how many play pvp, rather than overall population.

Yeah, I think you're right.

zaria · February 2017

Egonieser wrote: »

blaineswing_ESO wrote: »

DannyLV702 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure the PC world is a lot bigger, but that doesn't mean PS4 is lacking people

Thanks for the reply!

I saw a few people saying the exact opposite, about PS4 being bigger than PC. Haha. May I ask which version that you play?

Doubt it. ESO has been on the PC a lot longer, has more established player base and economy and PC gamers as a whole tend to stick around with MMO's a lot longer and also play it more frequently as the genre is relatively new to the consoles in comparison (yes there have been a few in the past on older generations, but you can count them on the fingers of one hand, and most have been flops anyway due to technical limitations of consoles and their networks).

And simply just walking around in any area (on EU at least) at any time of the day, there are absolutely loads of people around, every dolmen, every dungeon, every boss has hoardes massing around them, even in the middle of the night.

Obviously ZoS won't release any statistics, but when it comes to generic MMO's like this that are crossplatform, PC's will almost always be certainly more populated.

Now this is a opinion not a fact, so before anyone decides to open up flamewars - think it through.

On the other hand, competition on console is far less Think the Final Fantasy MMO is the only other big on PS4, do not know about any for One.

Dajazzmani · February 2017

Well, I played PS4 for a year and a half and switched to PC in January. After getting used to using the keyboard and mapping stuff to where it suits me I am having a blast! Which is better? I prefer PC. Particularly now I have discovered the add-ons, although I am a bit dubious about what ones to install....

Egonieser · February 2017

Dajazzmani wrote: »

Well, I played PS4 for a year and a half and switched to PC in January. After getting used to using the keyboard and mapping stuff to where it suits me I am having a blast! Which is better? I prefer PC. Particularly now I have discovered the add-ons, although I am a bit dubious about what ones to install....

Download the Minion program - it will show all available addons in a nice and convenient fashion with filters and categories and also auto-install them and keep them updated instead of doing manual downloads for each and every one, then copy paste files, and repeat the horrid process every time there is an update... I can't imagine keeping track of 30+ addons I use without this godsend of a program.

LadyLavina · February 2017

film wrote: »

DigitalShibby wrote: »

PC is much larger in terms of population. My source? Played PS4 since launch and am now on PC.

Doesn't PC have the least amount of campaign servers? Isn't that based on population? The only sales numbers we've seen PS4 about doubled PC, maybe not reliable but only info we actually have.

1. Yes
2. No to the best of my knowledge.

Egonieser · February 2017

Well, to add: In the 8.5mil copies sold statement, ZoS said that the population is more or less evenly distributed across all platforms, so that is the closest official statement regarding player count we will get. Which invalidates the statements of those that say consoles or PC have more players (including mine earlier in this topic, I take it back with humility).

To quote:

At an Elder Scrolls Online press event, Matt Firor confirmed to our own Bill Murphy that the game is sporting 8.5 million players. At E3 2016, ESO had 7 million players and has grown by 1.5 million since then. This number is based off of units sold and is not simply a tally of registered accounts.

According to Firor, the population is split fairly evenly among all platforms. Currently, Elder Scrolls Online is available on PC, PlayStation 4 and XBox One.

Source: http://www.mmorpg.com/mobile/news.cfm?read=43197

Which ultimately proves that if it's population you're after - doesn't matter at this point which platform you chose as it's stated that all players are almost evenly distributed.
Then it only comes down to preference - whether you like the customisability and performance of a PC, or the simple and clean Vanilla gameplay of a console - each has it's appeal and can't really say which is better as it's subjective (maybe not performance, but PC has it's own issues to deal with). Obviously when asking others - they will recommend their own preferences which are all subjective and varied, in the end of the day OP has to decide for him/her self.

qsnoopyjr · February 2017

Runschei wrote: »

I play PC and I'm posistive the PC world is bigger

Lot of PC players, dont play any consoles, so they tend to be narrow minded and in their own little world, with assumption PC is best.

Fact is, majority of millenials play on consoles. The ones with good amount of facebook friends and instagram friends and social.
I tend to find the PC gamers, unhealthy amount of facebook friends, have no instagram or unhealthy amount of instagram friends. So they know very little besides what they see, which is PC all day long.

Long story short, Console dwarfs PC in ESO population wise.
Millenials are socialable people, due to no voice chat in many PC games, thats why they stick to console. Do you know how much of a hassle it is to get all those random PUGs into teamspeak? Most of them dont even have or dont want to join in. The PC version of ESO is very very... Unsocialable, hence why they all drift towards console games.

Inig0 · February 2017

If im not mistaken a while back some magazine stated that NA PC had 7% EU PC had 14% of the population with the rest being split between eu xbox/ps4 na xbox/ps4. Is there even na xbox/ps4 and eu xbox/ps4?? I dont even know, it never mattered to me.

As a lot of the people have said PC NA is literally the smallest population in the game and that is very apparent. That being said we are thriving and pc is where its at! Addons, pts, lastest drama with exploiting/ cheating, and keyboard/ mouse. Whats not to love????

Egonieser · February 2017

qsnoopyjr wrote: »

Runschei wrote: »

I play PC and I'm posistive the PC world is bigger

Lot of PC players, dont play any consoles, so they tend to be narrow minded and in their own little world, with assumption PC is best.

Fact is, majority of millenials play on consoles. The ones with good amount of facebook friends and instagram friends and social.
I tend to find the PC gamers, unhealthy amount of facebook friends, have no instagram or unhealthy amount of instagram friends. So they know very little besides what they see, which is PC all day long.

Long story short, Console dwarfs PC in ESO population wise.
Millenials are socialable people, due to no voice chat in many PC games, thats why they stick to console. Do you know how much of a hassle it is to get all those random PUGs into teamspeak? Most of them dont even have or dont want to join in. The PC version of ESO is very very... Unsocialable, hence why they all drift towards console games.

Again, that is only your opinion, not a fact. Firor himself said that population is fairly EVENLY distributed across all platorms, and I will take his word over someone on the forums any day.

Inig0 · February 2017

qsnoopyjr wrote: »

Runschei wrote: »

I play PC and I'm posistive the PC world is bigger

Lot of PC players, dont play any consoles, so they tend to be narrow minded and in their own little world, with assumption PC is best.

Fact is, majority of millenials play on consoles. The ones with good amount of facebook friends and instagram friends and social.
I tend to find the PC gamers, unhealthy amount of facebook friends, have no instagram or unhealthy amount of instagram friends. So they know very little besides what they see, which is PC all day long.

Long story short, Console dwarfs PC in ESO population wise.
Millenials are socialable people, due to no voice chat in many PC games, thats why they stick to console. Do you know how much of a hassle it is to get all those random PUGs into teamspeak? Most of them dont even have or dont want to join in. The PC version of ESO is very very... Unsocialable, hence why they all drift towards console games.

Im not sure i agree with this, at least, some of this. I dont think this is a pc players are this console players are this sort of thing. The population difference just has to do with cost of medium. PC costs more to get upfront which doesnt appeal to many new gamers. Its not the social characteristics that have influenced the population. In fact on pc na at least i see more 'social' guilds than i do hardcore pve/ pvp guilds. Where people log on to just hang out and talk. Thats just my take on it at least.

qsnoopyjr · February 2017

Egonieser wrote: »

qsnoopyjr wrote: »

Runschei wrote: »

I play PC and I'm posistive the PC world is bigger

Lot of PC players, dont play any consoles, so they tend to be narrow minded and in their own little world, with assumption PC is best.

Fact is, majority of millenials play on consoles. The ones with good amount of facebook friends and instagram friends and social.
I tend to find the PC gamers, unhealthy amount of facebook friends, have no instagram or unhealthy amount of instagram friends. So they know very little besides what they see, which is PC all day long.

Long story short, Console dwarfs PC in ESO population wise.
Millenials are socialable people, due to no voice chat in many PC games, thats why they stick to console. Do you know how much of a hassle it is to get all those random PUGs into teamspeak? Most of them dont even have or dont want to join in. The PC version of ESO is very very... Unsocialable, hence why they all drift towards console games.

Again, that is only your opinion, not a fact. Firor himself said that population is fairly EVENLY distributed across all platorms, and I will take his word over someone on the forums any day.

PS4, XboxOne...
Thats 2 consoles.
That means twice as much as PC.
2 beats 1

Wrecking_Blow_Spam · February 2017

kkravaritieb17_ESO wrote: »

TequilaFire wrote: »

I play both PS4 and PC and find both player bases to be about equal.
I do believe PvP is slightly more populated on PS4 however.

Somehow i doubt that. On PC EU we have 2 fully pop locked campaigns on daily basis. And on weekends almost all campaigns are pop locked. Dont know about NA.

If this is true it dwarfs the Xbox EU Pvp server.

We're lucky to have one campaign pop locked in prime time for an hour.

qsnoopyjr · February 2017

One other thing to think about.

Gen X and Baby Boomers... Only very small percentage if any plays on console.
Millenials play mainly on console, a small perecentage plays PC.

Console gaming is considered cool, hype, trendy.
PC gaming is considered nerdy, outdated, laggards.

I mean, VR came out for consoles
PC gamers, its like PDA. Nobody used. Console, its not a PDA its an iPad, everyone uses
I mean, Console games all have voice chat
PC gamers... Ignore everyone and SOLO que, no I dont want to talk to you in voice, reminds me of real life
I mean Console games people actually utilize friends list and play with friends
PC gamers... SOLO QUE KINGS

Chances of playing with a hot chick? Very slim on PC. Nothing but old folks. On consoles very good, its considered cool.
Chances of playing with losers? Very good on PC. On consoles, very bad, console players have big ambitions, big EGOs too.

When is the last time someone humped your corpse in PC AvA?
Happens all the time on console. Console player have high confidence level, high confidence can lead to EGO and dominance, which is reason why they hump corpse.

Another thing,
PC gaming is like TV
Console gaming is like Netflix, Hulu, etc.
PC gaming is like big box stores
Console gaming is like Amazon, e-commerce
PC gaming is like having an andriod phone
Console gaming is like having Apple products

Which one is trending?
Which one has a lot of activity?
Console games.

Data shows, PS4 has roughly same or more population as PC, Xbox One has roughly same or more population too... Guess what, that means Console beats PC 2 to 1.

Pallmor · February 2017

exeeter702 wrote: »

Personal preference is one thing. But pc is objectively the superior platform.

Not if you love the convenience of built-in voice chat, can't afford a gaming PC, have all your friends on a console, or don't care about add-ons.

It's a matter of personal choice. I play on PC now because that is where most of my guildees are (used to play on PS4) and because the PC has controller support now. I like the add-ons, but I also miss my built-in voice chat. Having to find a Teamspeak or Discord server/channel is a PITA even when everyone is on the same page or in the same guild. It's nigh impossible for random PUGs. And there is no proximity chat at all.

qsnoopyjr · February 2017

The only difference is, its harder to satisfy millenials.

So it can go from very packed on consoles, to dead.

And when it dies out on console... It's just a prediction that for PC its going to die out soon too.

Millenials stay up to date with trends, and MMORPGs tend to be very slow when it comes to trends.
PC gamers, usually behind trends and easily satisfied, but when they notice the rest of the world doesn't look at the game they play as cool, they start dwindling away to the next trend and try to enjoy it as much as millenials do.

So when you see Console gaming start to go bad in ESO... Its a good indicator ESO isnt the game to play anymore.

My recomendation, cater to console gamers, cater to millenials. They will keep Gen X and Baby Boomers, not like those 2 generations hard to keep anyways. PC games, rarely anything comes out. Console games... Lots of competition, that's where your focus needs to be at.

All the innovation is happening on console games. PC games... No innovation at all happening.

Egonieser · February 2017

qsnoopyjr wrote: »

Egonieser wrote: »

qsnoopyjr wrote: »

Runschei wrote: »

I play PC and I'm posistive the PC world is bigger

Lot of PC players, dont play any consoles, so they tend to be narrow minded and in their own little world, with assumption PC is best.

Fact is, majority of millenials play on consoles. The ones with good amount of facebook friends and instagram friends and social.
I tend to find the PC gamers, unhealthy amount of facebook friends, have no instagram or unhealthy amount of instagram friends. So they know very little besides what they see, which is PC all day long.

Long story short, Console dwarfs PC in ESO population wise.
Millenials are socialable people, due to no voice chat in many PC games, thats why they stick to console. Do you know how much of a hassle it is to get all those random PUGs into teamspeak? Most of them dont even have or dont want to join in. The PC version of ESO is very very... Unsocialable, hence why they all drift towards console games.

Again, that is only your opinion, not a fact. Firor himself said that population is fairly EVENLY distributed across all platorms, and I will take his word over someone on the forums any day.

PS4, XboxOne...
Thats 2 consoles.
That means twice as much as PC.
2 beats 1

How is that even remotely relevant? There is no crossplatform play, so - irrelevant. OP asked about PC and PS4 specifically. Let's not turn this into flamewars again.

Annalyse · February 2017

While it's true that PS4 might have more players (I can't say as I don't play it) I can say that PC has a big enough playerbase that it shouldn't matter. Everywhere you go, there will be crowds of people.

But the reason I will forever stick to the PC version - addons. And I'm not talking about the ones that people might consider as "cheating" because they do work for you (like Lazy Writ Creator - though I do love that one!), but mostly the ones that should not have to exist because they are there to fix design flaws. Like Awesome Guild Store, which makes searching guild stores actually bearable, and Advanced Filters, which allows you to find that one item you need without a lot of searching through junk in your bank or bag.

Go with PC and addons. You won't regret it.

UrQuan · February 2017

Put aside all of the utter BS people throw about to try to make generalizations about the types of people who play on each platform. It's garbage.

The real answer is this: none of us knows which platform/server has the biggest player base. The only people who know that work for ZOS. What we do know is that all of them have healthy populations that are at least similar sizes (the "healthy populations" part is evident to us as players, while the "similar sizes" part comes from ZOS comments).

Pay no attention to the typical platform vs platform posturing. There's a healthy population regardless of the platform you choose, so make your decision based on which platform you'd prefer to use.

Vaoh · February 2017

@blaineswing_ESO You've pretty much been told all platforms were the best in one way or another XD I'd say all of them are doing fairly well and you don't have to worry.

PS4 NA, Xbox NA, PC NA, and PC EU are good.

I cannot confirm what the populations of PS4 Eu and Xbox EU are like though

menedhyn · February 2017

UrQuan wrote: »

Put aside all of the utter BS people throw about to try to make generalizations about the types of people who play on each platform. It's garbage.

Agree. This is all you need to consider from recent posts, OP.