PS4 has a much bigger install base, don’t think there are several thousand PS4 players currently playing
Adding another platform would get an influx of new players where probably the most, again, will stop playing for the same reasons as PC and PS4 players do. Doubtful Xbox players are somehow different.
Before adding more platforms I really do feel that more has to be added and changed to the game so when they do add more platforms more stick around this time!
I did, all I could find was a headset and an old handheld gaming device from '97…
I’d love it personally since it would allow me to play a lot more , but what really jumps out to me with Xbox Play Anywhere is how well Astroneer seems to be doing with it. It is a game that appeals to a similar audience, IMO. Comparing numbers, Astroneer has close to 26k tracked players on TrueAchievements. 50% completed the tutorial, but still pretty good on the numbers. If Boundless were PA, it would get the same sort of featuring Xbox gives Astroneer I’m sure. Get just 10% of that active 50% of Astroneer on Xbox, that would be a massive boost.
Yep, more content first, solve some or all of the reasons many players quit (like a T0 as I mentioned above without the risk of losing everything when still on there), then more platforms.
By the time more platforms would be beneficial we’re at least 1 year from now and that’s when the new Xbox and the PS5 will release.
And both will be way more capable than the PS4 currently is, also more capable than @Nightstar’s 10fps potato!
I am confused as to why another platform or more advertising will increase the players or keep players playing.
If 20,000 keys were purchased on steam (according to steam it is between 20,000 and 50,000) and currently there are over 13 million people on steam but less than 100 playing Boundless. How does the expense and time of porting the game to another platform equal more players? If Boundless has 1000 active steam players then the retention rate is about .5%. So is it retention or lack of exposure that is really the problem? And if it is retention then why expose more players to a game when they are unlikely to stay if the trends continue.
I am not against that. Hope the game can survive that long. The sales have been lackluster, there is no doubt about it. But the data also shows a retention problem:
Sept 2018 peak PC players 830
Sept 2019, even after new content - 160
What new content came out in Feb 2019? The peak spiked up to 1,100 then fell back down to around 200 a couple months after that.
Ad campaigns, spending months of dev time on ports to new platforms (which will be updated in a year anyway) will not solve a retention problem. More content and solving issues why players do not stick around is the thing that needs to be tackled first, and THEN an ad campaign and more platforms makes sense…
I’m starting to play less simply because the winter nights are long and the weather is cold so when I log on and it’s dark and cold in game I often just shut it down and find something brighter and more cheerful to do .
Redstone gives those games long legs. I believe that’s a huge factor. I know a bunch of YouTube players who made their careers from Redstone builds alone.
One of the possible things that would solve it for some of the quitters is more content…
And yes, there has been new content, but it just hasn’t been new content that the players leaving would have wanted to stick around for is what I’m assuming!
The whole key I believe is in hitting the right base. I’m agreed that a broad campaign probably would not be for the best. Focus on the niche. Pull just a small % of NMS’ base, which I’m completely convinced could be done, we’re gold. Even with many improvements, would a broad ad campaign do much better? Because of the type of game Boundless is, without doing a super water-down to make it way more casual, I think no. Look at where we lose most the players, very early. I think we’d lose a lot of those regardless, even with a major tutorial overhaul (an overhaul would be a good thing of course, we WOULD retain more, but I just think we’d lose many anyways). Rather, put the focus on groups that will love Boundless now, even if we still obviously want it to be even better or some of us do still leave for one reason or another.
On the platform, Xbox PA would have the advantage of getting a lot more exposure… they appear to me to really plug it a lot, and give those games a lot of focus on ads. And Xbox doesn’t have anything quite like Boundless, Minecraft and Astroneer are the closest. It would create a way to play cross-platform on the same account… I could play here on Windows 10, fire up the Xbox at home, pick right back up.
Maximum effort for minimal gain is no fun in the real world so why does Boundless refuse to budge from that psychology . But I do love the exploding chisels , they continue to prove that my heart surgery was a success lol .
PlayAnywhere doesn’t magically add cross-saves/progression, it would need to be added to the game and would then probably work just as well on PS4/Steam…
That’s mostly because MS wants to attract more people to it, it’s really not that popular with many gamers if you tend to believe what you read on the internet. People will stay clear of a game if it’s not on Steam for instance which tells me they do not like Xbox on PC all that much…
(no clue why and even if it actually makes sense since I do both, but yeah)
I certainly understand where you are coming from but if this were true I would have thought we would have retained or gained permanently players from the free weekend.
This seems to be true and it is a shame that we do not have better data on why they leave. Hopefully the developers do. I do think we struggle many times because we are still here or at least still interested in what happens to the game. We are probably not the right people to ask what needs to change in order to do better at retention or to make the game more appealing to a larger group of players. Of course we want more content because we have already played thousands of hours and want something new to do. But if a player is new then how can it be a lack of content that makes them leave? Is it more basic? Is it things like beacon fueling, skill tree, or the time and effort to get resources and craft? I am glad that James has indicated they are looking at all aspects of the game to determine what might need to change or be added.
Free weekend just too broad, IMO. Get a lot of people who just want to try any game that looks remotely appealing to them probably. I’m convinced for Boundless that you need a certain mentality to really stick with it, you have to want to be challenged mentally, want to spend time and figure things out… and while some changes in the NPE will help, there are simply IMO going to be a lot of gamers we will lose regardless, because it just won’t be for them. Not a bash on those players, but some just won’t get it shy of a complete water-down, which I don’ think we want. I think the best way we have right now to find those players who will love it, is to find the games that are similar, require a similar mindset, appeal to the same type of player.
I agree that this is a misnomer. The issues we are facing has to deal with game play, game mechanics, and other fundamental issues that cause people to leave. Fixing those are certainly more important so that retention of players happens over just “new people” that ultimately leave.
I do wonder how much is truly broken in need of fixing vs an accessibility issue. I don’t think personally there is all that much TRULY in need of real fixing - yeah, like I said, a better tutorial, some things like the campfires and some skills that could probably be scrapped or simplified…
Ok, time to get to a point I’ve been dancing around, because it comes across as mean and ableist perhaps, but I think it does need to be said, and if this is flagged/removed, that is fine and my apologies in advance.
Everything I’ve read from the devs on here, they are geniuses. Literally. Working with brilliant professors, I may not be it myself but I recognize it when I see it. People functioning at that kind of level, sometimes their style of communication simply won’t reach everybody. Boundless is a passion project, clearly… well, what I’ve seen to give an analogy, a brilliant professor lecturing on their pet topic will never get the point across to the entire class. Some will get it right away and be engaged. Then, they might change up their approach, make it a little more accessible, and pull in the attention of some of the others, and get them interested as well. But you’ll still have half the class staring out the window and picking their noses with a blank look on their faces.
Some of the negative reviews I read, some of the large number who never make it out of the Sanctum… well, sorry… but some of these people are our nose-pickers. They will NEVER get Boundless, as they don’t want to put in the effort to WANT to get it, and you risk damaging the game IMO if you try too hard. Yes, make the changes that will make it more appealing and engaging to those who are close, that have almost been hooked. But accept that there is going to be a percentage, and probably a big one, of gamers in general who lack whatever aspects it takes to “get” Boundless. This isn’t snobbery, it is as much WANTING to understand as actually understanding here - I’m still learning things and can be an epic airhead at times, I STILL haven’t figured out forging! I took forever to figure a lot of stuff out. But you have to at least be at a certain threshold here, and you have to have the tenacity to plug along… and short of changing up the entire thing, have to accept some won’t ever get there.
, but what really jumps out to me with Xbox Play Anywhere is how well Astroneer seems to be doing with it. It is a game that appeals to a similar audience, IMO. Comparing numbers, Astroneer has close to 26k tracked players on TrueAchievements. 50% completed the tutorial, but still pretty good on the numbers. If Boundless were PA, it would get the same sort of featuring Xbox gives Astroneer I’m sure. Get just 10% of that active 50% of Astroneer on Xbox, that would be a massive boost.
made by Tiger. My older brother had it when it came out in his mid teens so I got to steal it. Bad system haha