Well, it depends on a lot of things
FC / Tencent may not consider the game dead (and continue to develop it) but it’s not just about them
Are there more or less players playing than last year?
my guess is less
How long do players stay in the game on average?
my guess is that it will be shorter, at least on our server, new players / clans are still appearing, but usually they don’t last very long
How many people buy something at the bazaar?
again, my guess is that not many, bazaar items are more of a rarity. But the DLC stuff is relatively common (of course the DLC system was better)
etc…
overall, I would say that the game is not dead, but I have to say that imho it is in a worse stage compared to other similarly old games, thanks to how badly FC approaches it and the reputation it has
This one didn’t say it was healthy.
No, quite the contrary, each of the things that “killed” the game took a toll. That’s not even looking at natural attrition as the same maps become stale, more competition from other survival adventure games, and the ransoming event with discounted CC a couple months ago.
Seriously, that CC discount followed by punishment for those who purchased at that time…
We saw Funcom’s plan for handling things, that they have developed and launched a pay for access system. Even if only so far deployed against those who had the temerity of giving them business, we’ve all now seen it.
Buy X amount of CC play.
That sort of thing may lower the commitment one feels towards anything in this game.
Also, it targeted spenders.
Never go after your paying customers with something so slipshot.
Now, there will be persons with a shallow understanding of game health and deep affection for the taste of leather (or other brown substances) shoving “steam numbers” anytime the health of the game is brought up. Because the difference between play and serial refreshing is lost and the fact that, the last time the devs bothered to mention it, PC players constituted the minority of players. The health of the minority, who have access to the most options for circumventing the worst design decisions and most toys besides, is textbook biased sample fallacy.
Honestly, this one wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Console numbers had collapsed since the last time they did a census. Perhaps now Steam is their lifeblood. Considering the majority of their players were only ever an afterthought and the unironic response to QoL improvements had been “there’s a mod for that”.
That having been said, there are degrees.
Many people function for some time in poor health. Not even bed ridden. Not on life support. Just unwell.
That’s where I would gauge the game right now, unwell.
Is this going to get worse as resources are funneled to getting Dune launched in a relevant window? Maybe a little. But for the most part, the dev teams seem to be independent. That may change come crunch time. Game studios have never shuffled staff around to meet a deadline…
But that’s a set back. A temporary issue.
Will it cause more attrition?
Likely, but this one imagines that those who expected punctuality probably left the building some time ago. So it will mostly be new players dipping out with a handful of those find this to be a straw that Camel lacks sufficient expertise for.
The contents of Chapter 4 are what may do more or less damage to the established player base. But that’s a differ jar of Shai-hulud
I hope they release fat ladies into the game before the famous one opens her mouth. The game needs more variety in body types.
But yeah, the game has been declared “officially dead” by various unofficial sources for as long as I remember - and I’ve been around since Early Access.
Yeah, I got the game 2 days after the official release in May 2018.
Then after, it was already declared dead and buried in the summer of 2018.
Now, in 2024 it’s still out there, alive and kicking… resilience is all
Maybe the devs decide not to rush things after unpleasant inccident with the Chapter 3 start, and thoroughly prepare for the chapter 4? I know, that sounds crazy, but what if… they really want to do so? We can speculate about this very long, but sooner or later we’ll find out the truth
That’s a possibility.
Maybe the ch4 for Conan Exiles was delayed not to take the spotlight from Dune Awakening which also had today’s little stream.
A company having 2 game from the same genres will divide this community even more and possibly affect Dune Awakening sales when it launches, so there’s a chance Conan Exiles will have to take a fall or be kept in the shadow until Dune launches. Just a thought.
It’s clear to me that you missed the whole point of my earlier post. Perhaps go read it again, without trying to come up with a reply before you understand it.
I don’t think Dune will compete with Conan Exiles as much as expected. The information that is known about the game so far makes me think that Dune will be a kind of DayZ. Whether that is really true remains to be seen. But I think Funcom is smart enough not to consciously sabotage Conan Exiles.
Conan Exiles has built up a loyal fan base over the years that hasn’t yet been completely milked dry.
There is no competition between Conan and Dune.
Conan is basically in vegetative state. Compare the playerbase of the successful survival games like Rust or Ark. Those are the real competition to Dune.
