Dominoid wrote: »

The Trend:

• BE3 June 2016 - 7 million
• February 2017 - 8.5 million
• November 2017 - 10 million
• BE3 June 2018 - 11 million
• BE3 June 2019 - 13.5 million

From past announcements on player count.

• This is not active player count - last update 2.5 million monthly active in December 2017
• This number is people who have purchased and registered a copy of ESO at anytime since release
• This does not include players who do free trial and don't purchase game
• If you own more than one account on a platform or own accounts on several platforms, you are counted more than once.

Did someone say server upgrade?

erlewine wrote: »

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

I think the more interesting thing about that announcement was that they are expanding their team. Ive heard rumors of them working on another property. But with the a position as a producer has opened up. Im wondering if the rumors are true and they are ramping up for the next big MMO.

well, judging by sales Elswyr seems pretty clearly the final full size expansion for ESO, it'll likely go into delayed maintenance mode sometime soon, maybe not for a few years though - then restructure updating to like 2 months per small DLC, somethin along those lines.

Or shut it down. But I think mtx can keep this profitable a long time.

I was wondering when the "DOOM" squad would make a return. Its been longer than normal for you types. Youre usually on a 6 month rotation. Guess it can be a little difficult crying the sky is falling when content is flowing out of the machine every quarter though.

I hope that ZOS don't take these (deceptive) numbers as a thumbsup that the game is doing great. Sure, it's fine to celebrate successes (if Elsweyr sold well, no data to confirm whether it did or not), but let's not pretend that ESO is in some spectacular place right now. One of the largest selling points of the Chapter, the new class, is mechanically broken and clunky as hell. The servers - especially EU - are regularly in meltdown. Lag is rampant. They had to manually cap their group finder to prevent people from joining the queue, that's how broken the LFG tool is. ESO is a second-rate game and will remain so until they fix their recurring issues - no matter the account numbers or how many fluffy cats they add to the Crown Store in the meantime.

I watched so many ESO streams where devs talked about what a great achievement Elsweyr is, and how excited they are or how amazing it was to animate dragons... but I'm sorry I have a hard time being hyped for such mediocre content. Animating dragons in 2019 is not interesting, not unique, not an accomplishment. I could list dozens of other games on the market that have animated dragon encounters (even where those dragons actually move on the ground instead of spastically turning in one place). I have nothing against the animators, and please do celebrate your victories but let's not try to overhype what is being sold here, or pretend that Elsweyr is some monumental success story.

And as others pointed out, it would be great to see how this alleged success translates into the game. The account number data is some of the most deceptive that I've ever seen published - not only is it not a paying player number, it's not even a concurrent player number. How many of those accounts are bots? How many are accounts that haven't spent a single dime on the game since they bought it 3 years ago or whatever?

I personally perceive it as a bit insulting when the devs are hyping their game with great success stories in public, while we know it's in fact rife with problems. Dragons! Wow! Aren't you excited? Dragons are super cool! The best enemies ever! Like, no, thanks, I fought dragons in other games and in Skyrim, and I'm more concerned with the fact that players can't log in or join the queue, or find the luxury furniture vendor missing for two weekends in a row. I realize I sound a bit harsh, and I do know that devs can't very well complain about their game in public, but I'd like to see all this hype and apparent success translate into game improvements.

These kinds of numbers represent nothing but marketing jargon, and of course its around E3.

Since I moved to PC (since the game is barely playable on console now), I count as two of those accounts, one of the base number, and now one of the new.

Don't get me wrong, the game is healthy that's for sure, I'd be willing to bet its not far off GTA5 numbers, maybe a $Billion in 6 months of pure profit..... But these kinds of statements/numbers are really patronizing when they come this vague.

bluebird wrote: »

I personally perceive it as a bit insulting when the devs are hyping their game with great success stories in public, while we know it's in fact rife with problems.

Your entire post is very good, and I agree with everything you’ve said. I want to call out the passage because I think it’s the best articulation of how pretty much everyone here is feeling.

Rain_Greyraven wrote: »

All millions of people do is clog up the idiotic decision to have 95% of dungeons public.

Which is why I play more FFXIV these days, while I wait for AoC.

What AoC are you referring to? Age of Conan has been out for years. Is there another AoC?

erlewine wrote: »

ESO has not grown in years. Guys, there are places on the internet you can find daily login data dating back years. It's steady decline overall, while following the usual summer/winter/expansion dips. This doesn't mean the game is going to die anytime soon but I don't really see the point in deluding yourself, either.

edit: somewhat slight decline, to be fair.

I’m clearly missing this decline. This is concurrent players without either console and with the vast PC purchases not being through Steam.

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130

Facefister wrote: »

Despite all of this, we must ask:
"How do I benefit, as a customer, from the financial success of the company I buy the services from?"
If I would answer that question right now: 0.

agreed, it doesn't matter how many active users, subscribers or whales if some of those revenues aren't making their way back into the game to improve performance, fix bugs etc. I'm happy for them that they are "killing it" but my end user experience has only degraded since they started "killing it".

Reverb wrote: »

That really is Firor’s only talking point. I’ll buy 10k crowns if he has anythingof substance to say at E3 that doesn’t circle back to number of copies sold.

I was only half paying attention, but I think I’m on the hook for some crowns. I don’t think Matt Firor’s crowed about copies sold tonight. Am I wrong?

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

I think the more interesting thing about that announcement was that they are expanding their team. Ive heard rumors of them working on another property. But with the a position as a producer has opened up. Im wondering if the rumors are true and they are ramping up for the next big MMO.

Wasn't that the flop they announced right after ESO, Commander Keen or whatever that cartoony phone game was? The one that was an original ID Software remake...

erlewine wrote: »

ESO has not grown in years. Guys, there are places on the internet you can find daily login data dating back years. It's steady decline overall, while following the usual summer/winter/expansion dips. This doesn't mean the game is going to die anytime soon but I don't really see the point in deluding yourself, either.

edit: somewhat slight decline, to be fair.

There are also places on the internet that you can find data that proves the Earth is flat, all of the world leaders are shape shifting lizard aliens, and that Elvis, Tupac, and MJ are still alive and like to shop at Costco at 3 in the morning.

erlewine wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

The thing is that MMO games that are in a steady decline don't need multi-platform server capacity upgrades to handle additional players.

yes, all available data shows X but it is wrong because of totally unrelated Y. Cognitive dissonance is a hell of a drug.

Oh the irony.