The dwindling amount of players of WOWS. Time for statistics & graphs!

[MrFingers]

Last night I did a quick login, to see what my daily missions were, and I was mildly shocked, but not completely surprised to see that the amount of active players was a hair below 12K (NA server). So I went to the vbAddict site to look up some statistics on the weekly averages. I chose the weekly increments, giving me a fairly fine scale to work with, while cancelling out weekly fluctuations like a busy weekend versus a calm Tuesday afternoon.

What I saw there was very disturbing. The playernumbers across all four servers are gliding at a fairly constant speed towards zero. Sure, there are small increases as well (especially when new content is added), but they do not outweigh the steady decline. Since vbAddict doesn't allow me to combine all the four servers into one graph, I did it myself in Excel, with the values they gave me. And this is the result:

 

As you can see, the game is clearly ill, which may have various reasons, but I think it can be safely boiled down to these things:

 

•  Known flaws, errors and broken stuff that did not get fixed in a timely fashion. If something is broken, it ain't no use to continue playing with it, so people will pack up their stuff and leave. You can clearly see that even in CBT, the playerbase was declining, with occasional rises when new waves of players were invited. Players did, and do, leave when they notice that no real progress has been made. The aimbot-gate, and the lack of thorough, direct and prioritized attention from Wargaming sure didn't help with it. Players read the internet, if they see that there are issues in-game (via forums, gamesites,...), they will draw their conclusions, and leave. Don't forget: "reputation comes by foot, and goes by horse".

 

• While the absolute number of players is steadily increasing, the number of active players is decreasing. That means that many players see this game, make an account, play a few games, and then move of. Since they made an account, that means that they have an interest in the game, but they are being turned away by other reasons. My guess: the flaws, the lack of WG-interaction, specials,...

 

• The "public release", which was not marketed and announced as it should, completely failed to make a noticable impact, and failed in doing what it's sole purpose was: launching the game, and attracting new players, to further increase the playerbase. There was a small increase, but not enough the counter the decrease that happened in OBT.

 

• Where the addition of new content makes for a small increment in active players, it does not outweigh the steady decline (caused mainly by the flaws that there are in-game). The good does not outweigh the bad.

 

• The total lack of incentive of binding players to the game has a profound impact. The selling of premium time and doubloons bundled with premium ships has failed into luring the players enough into spending a continuous time in-game. While it may be profitable for Wargaming in terms of monetary value, it also has succeeded into poisoning the playerbase. TL: DR: the bundles are too expensive for attracting new players, the main buyers of the bundles are players who are already in the game. New players aren't particularly interested in a ship AND doubloons AND premium AND flags AND... From a player perspective, it's safe to say the bundles have totally failed. From a monetary perspective probably not, but there is no way that WG will be able to continue with those bundles.

 

• While the NA-server gets hammered with freebees, giveaways, contests, big prizepools,... this does not correspond in an increase in players. Even more staggering: they are one of the smallest servers in the WOWS-universe, even the SEA has caught up with them. Yet they consume virtually all the promotional budget from Wargaming. There is no way that the American players, with their numbers, are spending more money than the EU players.

Solutions

1. MAKE SPECIALS NOTEWORTHY AND INTERESTING! There is no way you're going to keep players happy and interested in your game, when the only thing you can come up with is an "X2" for experience for the first battle. There is already an abundance in experience. This clearly reflects in the graphs, that weeks in which specials are held have a significant higher number of players than weeks in which no specials were held. What would make a special noteworthy, and attract players? Discounts on port-slots, discounts on ships (premium & techtree), personal missions & in-game rewards.
2. FIX YOUR GAME BEFORE ADDING NEW CONTENT! First make the basis healthy and working properly, then add stuff to it. Without a healthy base, the game will tumble and collapse.
3. WHEN NEW CONTENT IS ADDED: TEST IT BEFORE RELEASE! Many of the (gamebreaking) flaws could have been prevented by thoroughly testing the new patch, and a proper collection of the feedback and data. Many of the in-game flaws aren't new, and were already being discussed in an elaborate way. Yet somehow patch after patch gets spewed out without proper testing, after which much time is lost with fixing stuff that could and should have been fixed before, especially since it was known. A broken patch scares away players. It's better to delay a patch for a couple of weeks, and make sure it works, than to throw it in the public, and fix the problems as they address themselves.
4. PROMOTE YOUR $H1T! When the basic fixing is done, promote your game by attracting new players, and you can attract them mainly via 1).
5. MIGRATE RESOURCES FROM THE NA TO THE EU AND SEA: pretty obvious, it seems.

 

 

 

 

[Juanx]

You can only take so much poo for so long.

Sadly there is no other useable game with this theme, however, as already attested, I can also live without playing or play without paying wartards anything.

[captain_sam]

 

Sadly there is no other useable game with this theme.

 

True, but that only confirms the facts: playing a half broken game cause there is nothing else out there...

 

However, there will be a point where players will not even be looking for another ship or even war type game, they will just move on to whatever OTHER game comes out that is FUN, not BROKEN, with a real interaction with the players and not balancing based on a bunch of stats from an excel sheet.

 

[Mucker]

I think WG has to adjust the content structure of WoWs and make it peak later. In WoT, the sweetspot as many agree is at T8. It takes some time to get there but the way is viable and worth it. 

My gut feeling is that WoWs actually already peaks at around T6 and there is little incentive to go further. From NM to Colorado? Meh. From Fuso to Nagato? Maybe. Aoba to Myoko? seems ok. Nürnberg to Yorck? Better think twice, just as with Cleve to Pensa. And then the economics. They also flip much earlier than in WoT. There is no real incentive for the endgame right now.  

[Juanx]

 

True, but that only confirms the facts: playing a half broken game cause there is nothing else out there...

 

However, there will be a point where players will not even be looking for another ship or even war type game, they will just move on to whatever OTHER game comes out that is FUN, not BROKEN, with a real interaction with the players and not balancing based on a bunch of stats from an excel sheet.

 

 

Precisely what I meant. Sadly there appears to be nothing in this type upcoming.

Luckily fallout 4 has my hours occupied now 

[Historynerd]

I do not want to discuss statistics (in which I am in no way an expert) nor in gaming (even more so), but... isn't it physiological to a degree that the number of players in a new game tends to get lower in time after its release? I am not saying that this is all that there is to the dwindling numbers, nor that there aren't many issues in the game and in WG policy, but just a part of this might be just a normal and predictable happening for a game...

[Juanx]

I do not want to discuss statistics (in which I am in no way an expert) nor in gaming (even more so), but... isn't it physiological to a degree that the number of players in a new game tends to get lower in time after its release? I am not saying that this is all that there is to the dwindling numbers, nor that there aren't many issues in the game and in WG policy, but just a part of this might be just a normal and predictable happening for a game...

 

New game? You do know this is WoWs forums right?

[Historynerd]

 

New game? You do know this is WoWs forums right?

 

Um... What do you mean?

[Sinseed]

nice work here again Mr. Fingers.

I do not want to discuss statistics (in which I am in no way an expert) nor in gaming (even more so), but... isn't it physiological to a degree that the number of players in a new game tends to get lower in time after its release? I am not saying that this is all that there is to the dwindling numbers, nor that there aren't many issues in the game and in WG policy, but just a part of this might be just a normal and predictable happening for a game...

 

Actually you would expect a product to have rising numbers in sales or in this case rising numbers of the playerbase after release, given you promote it and the product is of a good quality. Of course at a certain point there will be a stagnation or even a decline, but declining numbers right from the start is not looking good in any way.

edit: of course the numbers wont ever be stable since you got people leaving and new players comming to the game, but you as a company would like to do everything to keep the numers rising or at leat on a constant level.

interesting here btw: even though the NA-Server is having the smallest number of players, it is the one that remains at least on a certain level.

[tootz]

Personally, I think WG massively underestimated how many people were only interested in playing Royal Navy ships. Its a naval warfare game and they have left out the most iconic Navy in the world.

[Smeggo]

Well, judging the derivation, to me it looks like the graphs are slowly stabilising on their level, rather than declining. 

 

[Deamp_poi]

there are alot of people just logging in to do the daily exp bonus... It is simply not worth it to grind to T10 when I look at the repair costs etc.

And without a good chat system I am all by myself without player interaction outside the match to give me something to do and get hooked by the community

[Sinseed]

atm it looks like the decline is getting less but remaining. But even if, there will come other things that will decline the numbers such as, people get bored, difficult mm due to the fact that there are not enough players on higher tiers, or the numbers are even getting less...

 

edit: I think one of the problems is the end-game content. as it is now there are no interesting missions nor challenges or events ( yes I know, the new amazing 3 missions... but as mentioned in other threads, not a real motivation to keep playing longer than usual) and no competitive mode. Ranked battles are just a small step and as it seems, still tested. They are missing things like clanwars or teambattles from wot, or pve modes that keep the players in game for longer.

[Pastaiolo]

Doesn't vbaddict take stats only from dossiers uploaded? So from people using their uploading tool?

[LetsRockAndRoll]

A well deserved +1 MrFingers. 

[Vaderan]

One thing i consider truly remarkable about this graph, is the peak of 08.07.2015! One weak after OBT launch, the EU server passes the RU server in numbers. We are always been told, that the RU servers are the most mportant market for wargaming.

Well, looking at the graph, this turns out to be true in terms of the numbers of average-active players. However, it shows even more, how much potential WG is wasting with it´s treatment of the EU server. The peak clearly shows, that there is (or has been) more interest and potential on the EU playerbase, compared to all other regions. However, the interest passes as quickly as it arose.

This indicates, that there has to be a flaw within the game which has to be that immense, that over a span of a few weeks, almost 40% of the active players loose interest in this game.

The loss was that immense, that by launch of the game, roughly 10000 players on average less were populating the servers, than within the first week of open beta launch.

 

This clearly shows, that there is a high interest by the EU playerbase, which however has already turned into disappointment for a great deal of the playerbase.

In addition, despite the huge efforts of WG to attract more US region players, the numbers stay constantly low.

 

As a conclusion, WG should probably question themselves: did we just screw something with great potential? The interest is clearly witin the players, but something keeps them leaving constantly. Even the introduction of the GER and USSR ships just achieved a marginaly increase for a short period of time.

 

So, besides the lack of community work and the bad product placement and premium shop, there has to be something else within the game, which forces players off.

There has to be asked the question: "What does the game promise but not keep?"

 

I´d carefully consider two major aspects: the lowtier newcomers, who leave rather quickly, become critically disappointed by the game within the first few tiers. The veterans become long time bored because the high tier battles are still rather unplayable. Not enough players to assure a balanced matchmaking, flaws within the meta and mechanics, and a backbraking economy.

 

From my personal point of view, i can tell the following: i´ve been anticipating this game ever since it announcement, and i was unbeleavable happy to be part right from the alpha. During the alpha stage, this game was the probably best game ever. during closed beta, it became a "let´s wait and see". During Open Beta, it turned into a "well, at least my progress will stay, so i can go on whenever i want! After release, it was like "okay, i play some PvE whenever i lack the opportunity to play something else!"

 

The reasons are simple: the economy within this game is just cruel. WG marketing and community work adds to it, the premium shop is unattractive. The game clearly lacks the probably most important factor of any PC game: the reward factor. Besides the compeditive players, the majority, like me, plays games for fun, to feel rewarded for ingame achievements. The expectation is: the higher the skill, the higher the expectations for reward.

This just doesn´t work with WoWs. Despite the fact that WG claims WoWs being a skill-based game, too many decicive factors are dominated by lottery.

It starts with the tiers in matchmaking, continuous with the teams and players the matchmaker creates, goes on with the HE/AP/torpedo damage mechanics and pikes in the ridiculous RNG when it comes to the guns, especially on BBs.

While the ambitious player might take it as a challange, the average newbie gets overwhelmed by these complex mechanics. He earns more frustration than success, especially on low tiers with BBs and CVs, and just leaves.

This game delivers more punishment than reward to a new and unexperienced player within the first tiers, and only the ambitious will be able to feel something like constant success. Too many players just die their way through the tiers, ever hoping for everythin becoming better with the next ship they unlock, only to recognize it becomes even worse.

The community work might be bad, the pricing policy even worse, bit it´s the complete mechanic which requires a complete rework, to make players stay.

The first 3-4 tiers should be pure joy to anyone who joins the game. Easy to handle ships, easy to achieve success. With the progress, the game should deliver the message "this joy can still be yours, but you have to work for it!" Instead, players receive the worst, most disappointing ships of their complete trees right from the start, with just a few exceptions. These bad ships overburden the new players with the urge just to get rid of them and progress to the next tiers. They are so possesed by the urge to move on, they completly forget about improving their playstyle and learning the game. And then, before they even got the basics, BBs and CVs show up, which just add to the issue.

 

If i were just a medicore motivated player, looking for something new to check, play and probably spend some money on, i´d leave World of Warships before reaching tier 5, probably even tier 4, depending on what class attracted me the most. I wouldn´t even reach the spheres where WG community work and premium shop bundles would bother me. Those are just the aspects, who make the veteran players leave.

Just like me! I got better, more entertaining games to play right now. I will stay with the forums and the community, but for me and my friends, WoWs is a beached ship at the moment, with no intentions to pull it back into the water. 3x XP and medicore missions? Who cares...

[lethalbizzell]

Deserved +1 to you 

 

Seems when we all played the beta, and gave our feedback, Changes happened and the initial release was rather good. Then suddenly there's been so many wrong changes to the game, and implementation of unbalanced nations (guess) 

that the game is worse to play than how it played in july ! 

 

That on its own, just annoys anyone who helped test the game. Our UK community on teamspeak was strong..... now i check everyday when im working to see who is on at the evening, absolutely NO ONE. The game may be getting bigger,  not better. But the community have simply moved on. Better things to enjoy when you cant enjoy this . Just look at those stats, the EU server has the most prominent decline. 

 

im sure if they target the Chinese, add whatever crap the Chinese want with over a quarter of the worlds populace and a rising middle class. Their money will role in, then they can disregard EU entirely . They obviously care about the money more than their community (for that look at what happened to EA) Learn . 

 

Saying that, when your community doesnt want to buy your bloomin bundles worth a full game, and that money starts drying out.... in time.... in time. 

[beercrazy]

Doesn't vbaddict take stats only from dossiers uploaded? So from people using their uploading tool?

 

this +1

 

I am sure vbaddict only take a snap shot of players who have logged their wg account with them

 

 

this does not mean that player numbers are getting lower because I feel they are especially in the last week but it certainly does not tell the full truth of server numbers

[22cm]

Luckily fallout 4 has my hours occupied now 

 

How is Fallout 4? Is it worth it?

 

OP: I also stoped playing WoWs months ago, for the same reasons, and one more: the unballance between the ship classes or nations. And I was a big spender player for WG. But if they are stupid...

[OldGrandad]

I do not want to discuss statistics (in which I am in no way an expert) nor in gaming (even more so), but... isn't it physiological to a degree that the number of players in a new game tends to get lower in time after its release? I am not saying that this is all that there is to the dwindling numbers, nor that there aren't many issues in the game and in WG policy, but just a part of this might be just a normal and predictable happening for a game...

 

This. Initial interest is always artificially high due to inquisitiveness, and once those that realise the game is not for them (after all the subject is in a small niche) they fade away or if from another WG game regress back to that. There will always be a solid core of players as the subject is dear to them and as displayed here there will be those that like the game but not enough to keep them here (for a variety of reasons). Debating the health of a game so early in its life is not really representative, you need to look at it after a full year and make a conclusion as to what direction it is taking then. 

Take WoWp for an example, another niche subject but at this time of its life was very healthy indeed. It was decisions made by their developers that drove many away without taking heed of the communities voices. As for WoWs, I know there is a lot coming, more than enough to maintain my interest so with that in mind I feel quite happy with the direction it is going.  

[Drycon]

(* If Wargaming claims the numbers are exaggerated, than they've exposed themselves, since it's either:

- the in-game playercounter does give false statistics and numbers, and it has no value whatsoever for the players

- if the in-game playercounter is correct, than it is a clear sign that something IS wrong)

 

You should not have added this.

Your post have always been constructive and with good arguments but noe you are degrading to a consipracist level.

 

I think the reason of the decline lies in the social aspect of the game which is virtually non-existent.

 

[LilJumpa]

Thx 4 the work but I have to say it:

Note: I am not denying player averages going down since I have no numbers or put any effort into getting this information.

 

Your graph is very misleading because it doesn't show the actual amount of people playing the game but some 24h average of Wednesdays only. Compare your source :http://www.vbaddict.net/servers/world-of-warships/  (the by day Chart) with the 24h charts which are better visualized here : http://warshipstats.com/eu/ and you can see that the decline is not as drastical as you visualize it here . 

Example for your chart:

5000 people play 24 hours on day x

10000 people play 12 hours on day y

 

In your chart y=x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LilJumpa]

 

this +1

 

I am sure vbaddict only take a snap shot of players who have logged their wg account with them

 

 

this does not mean that player numbers are getting lower because I feel they are especially in the last week but it certainly does not tell the full truth of server numbers

 

No the server averages are gained through API and correspond with the ingame numbers.

I crosschecked it with warshipstats , vbaddict and ingame.

[22cm]

 It was decisions made by their developers that drove many away without taking heed of the communities voices.

 

Same thing is happening in WoWs.

[beercrazy]

 

No the server averages are gained through API and correspond with the ingame numbers.

I crosschecked it with warshipstats , vbaddict and ingame.

 

 

ok thanks for letting me know as I read that it was only people who had logged on but as they say you shouldn't believe everything you read

 

 

now where did I put that letter that said I had won 5 million on the lottery even though I didn't enter the lottery