Dose early access negatively affect the longevity of its games
In the document i will be looking into how early access can effect the longevity of a game. This is how long players stay interested in the game concept and keep playing. I hope to research into some examples of early access games and see if releasing a early game can negatively effect these games longevity.
I will try and look into a wide range of genres all across the early access markets. Focusing from survival games to some of the more complex genres than contrast in games against each other and also referencing my own personal experiences were some of these games to then give hopefully a fact-based conclusion on the answer in this document and as well give a personal experience on the matter.
The first game I will be looking at is Ark: Survival Evolved even thou this game is only eight months old. I will be looking at the statistics about layer total time on the game during his eight months and through looking at these facts and figures making a prediction on the future of the player base. To see a more comprehensive analysis of what the game is see my previous document called "Year 3: Research report: ARK: Survival evolved"
Players first managed their hands on Ark: Survival Evolved in June 2015. As of the writing of this document it means that the game has been in player hands seven months which is quite a substantial amount of time for players who purchased the game it was first released. According to the steam tracking website "Steamspy" the game has sold as of the writing of this document "2,135,000 copies" Ark: Survival Evolved: Steamspy (2015) since release. Looking into another website which tracks player activity on the game called "steam charts".
From June 2015 the game started with an average player activity of "42,870" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015) on average were on the game at a given time. With the peak of the player base hitting over 80,000 players at one time. For a game starting out from new release this is quite a high level of traffic even on the release month.
June Avg. players: "42,871"
June % Gain in players: "first month no data"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
looking towards the next two months of July and August it started off strong in July for the game as the average player count on the game jumped upwards to "46,760" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015) which is a 9% increase from previous month. The peak player base bid dwindle to 72,000 in this month bought this is often due to happen as even for the most interesting games player interest will start to dwindle as months go on. These figures are very normal for a game just released with the popularity of the average player rising as more players during the game due to influence from their friends or with players becoming more familiar with the games features their more employing more hours of the game.
July Avg. players: "46,764"
July % Gain in players: "+9.08%"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
For the month of August the statistics begin to wind down with a reduction in 2% to the average player race going down to "45,050" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015). This is a drop from the previous month of 3.5% but the peak players did hit 84,000 Which is a raise of over 10,000 players from the previous month. this is often due to some of the first major updates being implemented into the game bringing certain players back for a certain amount of days due to peak interest in the new content. This is a typical model of early access in its first few months with high popularity slowly dwindle books eventual spikes due to new content is being implemented.
August Avg. player: "45,057"
August % Gain in players: "-3.65%"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
Going into the winter months starting with September the game losers a large majority of its average player base going from 45,000 players in the previous month down to "35,490" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015).This is a loss in the average player base of 21% this is a very significant amounts for the game and it's quite troubling because the game is only four months into its release and it's of the program and still is already lost almost a quarter of its player base. This is probably go down to waning interest in the game with players not spending so many hours on the game due to completing most of the contents and this is most likely to spike again in the coming months when more updates become available for the game.
September Avg. player: "35,498"
September % Gain in players: "-21.21%"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
In the month of October the game did received and increased its player base from the previous month. The average player counts when up to "38,000" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015) which is an increase of 7.1% rise from the previous month. as well as its peak player counts going from 60,000 to "64,514" this month not a significant increase. Usually rises in the play beside this will often be because of a sale of the game or maybe a three weekend that steam offers in which players can freely at a spring the game for a weekend and also get a special deal on the game. it might as well be the upper game has received a significant updates and but this is brought back some old members that exited the game to view this new content.
October Avg. player: "38,020"
October % Gain in players: "+7.11%"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
Moving into November the figures for the game yet again take another dive. The month of November the game lost "5,158" average players which is a loss of 13.5% of its average players in this month. This starts is quite troubling when with other months yielding similar losses the amount the game is losing an average players is more likely to slow down the smaller the player base becomes and possibly in a year from now the game will consist mainly of a core member base that will play the game on average over the whole year.
November Avg. player: "32,862"
November % Gain in players: "-13.57%"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
Getting into the current month of December the game is still losing players bought it seems the rate in which they are being lost has reduced from the previous month. In the month of December the average player base for the game was "30,598" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015) a reduction from the previous month which was "38,020" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015). This is a loss of 6.8% of the average player base in this month compiling it with the stats from November this is two months of a streets player lost in the average player base for the game.
December Avg. player: "30,598"
December % Gain in players: "-6.89%"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
Looking to the future of the game is most likely that the average player race is likely to drop further in the future this will most probably slope off and the reduction in the average player base will become less and less each month. Probably in the future there will be rise in players base due to the new concert updates that will be implemented. In the space of seven months for the average player base to go from "46,764" to "30,598" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015) which is a loss in 27% is quite troubling in terms of the longevity of the game considering that the game is going to rely mostly on its future updates to keep player interest it doesn't seem to be off to a great start but it is most likely the rate of players leaving the game will reduce as time goes on.
After looking at all the statistics of the players from its release until now it seems that the player base has shrunk by 30% from its an initial starting play bass which was a
round 45,000 average players. Currently the average player base sitting around 30,000 players carrying on like this it could be estimated that the play beach would shrink by further 10,000 members in the next six months and then shrink more as time progresses. But due to content updates that may significantly change the game the game could make a resurgence and pull in more average players. It appears that early access may have an advantage over traditional games in this area as that with the constant arrival of new updates every month to be entice all players keeping an average player base high maybe something that nearly access games on more easily able to do than traditional games. More information on different game have to be compiled for this can be shown.
December (2013) Avg. players: "12,471"
December (2013) % Gain in players: "first month no data"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
January (2014) Avg. players: "23,093"
January (2014) % Gain in players: "+85.17%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2014) Avg. players: "21,764"
February (2014) % Gain in players: "-5.76%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2014) Avg. players: "17,548"
March (2014) % Gain in players: "-19.37%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2014) Avg. players: "18,665"
April (2014) % Gain in players: "+6.37%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2014) Avg. players: "16,855"
May (2014) % Gain in players: "-9.7%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2014) Avg. players: "14,518"
June (2014) % Gain in players: "-13.87%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
July (2014) Avg. players: "15,121"
July (2014) % Gain in players: "+4.15%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2014) Avg. players: "14,872"
August (2014) % Gain in players: "-1.64%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2014) Avg. players: "11,731"
September (2014) % Gain in players: "-21.12%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2014) Avg. players: "10,708"
October (2014) % Gain in players: "-8.72%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2014) Avg. players: "13,324"
November (2014) % Gain in players: "+24.43%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2014) Avg. players: "15,307"
December (2014) % Gain in players: "+14.88%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
January (2015) Avg. players: "14,447"
January (2015) % Gain in players: "-5.62%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2015) Avg. players: "15,007"
February (2015) % Gain in players: "+3.87%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2015) Avg. players: "13,846"
March (2015) % Gain in players: "-7.73"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2015) Avg. players: "9,274"
April (2015) % Gain in players: "-33.02%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2015) Avg. players: "6,524"
May (2015) % Gain in players: "-29.65%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2015) Avg. players: "8,800"
June (2015) % Gain in players: "+34.88%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
July (2015) Avg. players: "9,016"
July (2015) % Gain in players: "+2.46%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2015) Avg. players: "8,835"
August (2015) % Gain in players: "-2.01%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2015) Avg. players: "6,889"
September (2015) % Gain in players: "-22.02%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2015) Avg. players: "5,521"
October (2015) % Gain in players: "-19.86%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2015) Avg. players: "4,378"
November (2015) % Gain in players: "-20.69%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2015) Avg. players: "5,249"
December (2015) % Gain in players: "+19.88%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2013) % Gain in players: "first month no data"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2013) Avg. players: "786"
November (2013) % Gain in players: "-34.08%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2013) Avg. players: "595"
December (2013) % Gain in players: "-24.22%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
January (2014) Avg. players: "1000"
January (2014) % Gain in players: "+67.92%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2014) Avg. players: "1,292"
February (2014) % Gain in players: "+29.22%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2014) Avg. players: "2,207"
March (2014) % Gain in players: "+70.80%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2014) Avg. players: "4,660"
April (2014) % Gain in players: "+111.11%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2014) Avg. players: "4,164"
May (2014) % Gain in players: "-10.63%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2014) Avg. players: "3,725"
June (2014) % Gain in players: "-10.54%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
July (2014) Avg. players: "4,930"
July (2014) % Gain in players: "+32.33%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2014) Avg. players: "4,766"
August (2014) % Gain in players: "-3.33%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2014) Avg. players: "3.390"
September (2014) % Gain in players: "-28.86%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2014) Avg. players: "5,100"
October (2014) % Gain in players: "+50.44%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2014) Avg. players: "2,934"
November (2014) % Gain in players: "-42.46%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2014) Avg. players: "4,167"
December (2014) % Gain in players: "+42%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
January (2015) Avg. players: "5,596"
January (2015) % Gain in players: "+34.30%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2015) Avg. players: "5,587"
February (2015) % Gain in players: "-0.17%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2015) Avg. players: "4,523"
March (2015) % Gain in players: "-19.05%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2015) Avg. players: "3,785"
April (2015) % Gain in players: "-16.30%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2015) Avg. players: "3,102"
May (2015) % Gain in players: "-18,05%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2015) Avg. players: "2,691"
June (2015) % Gain in players: "-13.23%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
July (2015) Avg. players: "2,808"
July (2015) % Gain in players: "+4.34%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2015) Avg. players: "2,808"
August (2015) % Gain in players: "-0.01%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2015) Avg. players: "2,584"
September (2015) % Gain in players: "-7.96%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2015) Avg. players: "3,374"
October (2015) % Gain in players: "+30.55%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2015) Avg. players: "6,134"
November (2015) % Gain in players: "+81.80%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2015) Avg. players: "6,327"
December (2015) % Gain in players: "+3.14%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2015) % Gain in players: "first month no data"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2015) Avg. players: "2,573"
March (2015) % Gain in players: "-29.98%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2015) Avg. players: "1,383"
April (2015) % Gain in players: "-46.25%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2015) Avg. players: "1.421"
May (2015) % Gain in players: "+2.74%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2015) Avg. players: "1,017"
June (2015) % Gain in players: "-28.45%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
July (2015) Avg. players: "1,077"
July (2015) % Gain in players: "+5.91%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2015) Avg. players: "1,078"
August (2015) % Gain in players: "+0.08%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2015) Avg. players: "817"
September (2015) % Gain in players: "-24.21%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2015) Avg. players: "742"
October (2015) % Gain in players: "-9.10%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2015) Avg. players: "794"
November (2015) % Gain in players: "+6.93%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2015) Avg. players: "908"
December (2015) % Gain in players: "+14.44%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
I will try and look into a wide range of genres all across the early access markets. Focusing from survival games to some of the more complex genres than contrast in games against each other and also referencing my own personal experiences were some of these games to then give hopefully a fact-based conclusion on the answer in this document and as well give a personal experience on the matter.
Early access games:
Ark: Survival Evolved
Players first managed their hands on Ark: Survival Evolved in June 2015. As of the writing of this document it means that the game has been in player hands seven months which is quite a substantial amount of time for players who purchased the game it was first released. According to the steam tracking website "Steamspy" the game has sold as of the writing of this document "2,135,000 copies" Ark: Survival Evolved: Steamspy (2015) since release. Looking into another website which tracks player activity on the game called "steam charts".
From June 2015 the game started with an average player activity of "42,870" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015) on average were on the game at a given time. With the peak of the player base hitting over 80,000 players at one time. For a game starting out from new release this is quite a high level of traffic even on the release month.
June Avg. players: "42,871"
June % Gain in players: "first month no data"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
looking towards the next two months of July and August it started off strong in July for the game as the average player count on the game jumped upwards to "46,760" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015) which is a 9% increase from previous month. The peak player base bid dwindle to 72,000 in this month bought this is often due to happen as even for the most interesting games player interest will start to dwindle as months go on. These figures are very normal for a game just released with the popularity of the average player rising as more players during the game due to influence from their friends or with players becoming more familiar with the games features their more employing more hours of the game.
July Avg. players: "46,764"
July % Gain in players: "+9.08%"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
For the month of August the statistics begin to wind down with a reduction in 2% to the average player race going down to "45,050" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015). This is a drop from the previous month of 3.5% but the peak players did hit 84,000 Which is a raise of over 10,000 players from the previous month. this is often due to some of the first major updates being implemented into the game bringing certain players back for a certain amount of days due to peak interest in the new content. This is a typical model of early access in its first few months with high popularity slowly dwindle books eventual spikes due to new content is being implemented.
August Avg. player: "45,057"
August % Gain in players: "-3.65%"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
Going into the winter months starting with September the game losers a large majority of its average player base going from 45,000 players in the previous month down to "35,490" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015).This is a loss in the average player base of 21% this is a very significant amounts for the game and it's quite troubling because the game is only four months into its release and it's of the program and still is already lost almost a quarter of its player base. This is probably go down to waning interest in the game with players not spending so many hours on the game due to completing most of the contents and this is most likely to spike again in the coming months when more updates become available for the game.
September Avg. player: "35,498"
September % Gain in players: "-21.21%"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
In the month of October the game did received and increased its player base from the previous month. The average player counts when up to "38,000" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015) which is an increase of 7.1% rise from the previous month. as well as its peak player counts going from 60,000 to "64,514" this month not a significant increase. Usually rises in the play beside this will often be because of a sale of the game or maybe a three weekend that steam offers in which players can freely at a spring the game for a weekend and also get a special deal on the game. it might as well be the upper game has received a significant updates and but this is brought back some old members that exited the game to view this new content.
October Avg. player: "38,020"
October % Gain in players: "+7.11%"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
Moving into November the figures for the game yet again take another dive. The month of November the game lost "5,158" average players which is a loss of 13.5% of its average players in this month. This starts is quite troubling when with other months yielding similar losses the amount the game is losing an average players is more likely to slow down the smaller the player base becomes and possibly in a year from now the game will consist mainly of a core member base that will play the game on average over the whole year.
November Avg. player: "32,862"
November % Gain in players: "-13.57%"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
Getting into the current month of December the game is still losing players bought it seems the rate in which they are being lost has reduced from the previous month. In the month of December the average player base for the game was "30,598" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015) a reduction from the previous month which was "38,020" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015). This is a loss of 6.8% of the average player base in this month compiling it with the stats from November this is two months of a streets player lost in the average player base for the game.
December Avg. player: "30,598"
December % Gain in players: "-6.89%"
From: Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015)
Looking to the future of the game is most likely that the average player race is likely to drop further in the future this will most probably slope off and the reduction in the average player base will become less and less each month. Probably in the future there will be rise in players base due to the new concert updates that will be implemented. In the space of seven months for the average player base to go from "46,764" to "30,598" Ark: Survival Evolved: SteamCharts (2015) which is a loss in 27% is quite troubling in terms of the longevity of the game considering that the game is going to rely mostly on its future updates to keep player interest it doesn't seem to be off to a great start but it is most likely the rate of players leaving the game will reduce as time goes on.
After looking at all the statistics of the players from its release until now it seems that the player base has shrunk by 30% from its an initial starting play bass which was a
round 45,000 average players. Currently the average player base sitting around 30,000 players carrying on like this it could be estimated that the play beach would shrink by further 10,000 members in the next six months and then shrink more as time progresses. But due to content updates that may significantly change the game the game could make a resurgence and pull in more average players. It appears that early access may have an advantage over traditional games in this area as that with the constant arrival of new updates every month to be entice all players keeping an average player base high maybe something that nearly access games on more easily able to do than traditional games. More information on different game have to be compiled for this can be shown.
Average player increase/decrease average %: -4.855%
Ark: survival evolved: Summary
Overall average player increase/decrease %: -4.855%
Day Z
Day Z Is the one game on this list that has the most history surrounding it as well as some controversial events. Will begin with analyzing player statistics and average player counts on the game starting from the month of December 2013. The final more information on DayZ please look at the documents "Year 3: Research report: DayZ"
Day Z as a concept that has been available for many years through the mod for the game Arma 2. The game gone its own stand-alone release on December 16th 2013 being one of the first to be introduced on the early access steam program. As of the writing of this document the game is being released fora little over two years will be plenty of information to gather and our eyes about the audience given that there are two years statistics to review. As of the writing of this document DayZ has managed to sell "3.3 million Units" DayZ: Steamspy (2015). This makes DayZ one of the most highest selling early access games there is.
Starting at the very beginning on December 2013 because the game was released on the 16th of this month the stats may vary from the other months because stats on fully calculated for the whole month therefore this may offset its results. The game in its first month started off with an average of over 12,000 players even though it came out halfway through this month.
December (2013) % Gain in players: "first month no data"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
From: January 2014 - June 2014
Statistics
January (2014) Avg. players: "23,093"
January (2014) % Gain in players: "+85.17%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2014) Avg. players: "21,764"
February (2014) % Gain in players: "-5.76%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2014) Avg. players: "17,548"
March (2014) % Gain in players: "-19.37%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2014) Avg. players: "18,665"
April (2014) % Gain in players: "+6.37%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2014) Avg. players: "16,855"
May (2014) % Gain in players: "-9.7%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2014) Avg. players: "14,518"
June (2014) % Gain in players: "-13.87%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: +7.14%
From: July 2014 - December 2014
Statistics
July (2014) Avg. players: "15,121"
July (2014) % Gain in players: "+4.15%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2014) Avg. players: "14,872"
August (2014) % Gain in players: "-1.64%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2014) Avg. players: "11,731"
September (2014) % Gain in players: "-21.12%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2014) Avg. players: "10,708"
October (2014) % Gain in players: "-8.72%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2014) Avg. players: "13,324"
November (2014) % Gain in players: "+24.43%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2014) Avg. players: "15,307"
December (2014) % Gain in players: "+14.88%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: +1.99%
From: January 2015 - June 2015
Statistics
January (2015) Avg. players: "14,447"
January (2015) % Gain in players: "-5.62%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2015) Avg. players: "15,007"
February (2015) % Gain in players: "+3.87%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2015) Avg. players: "13,846"
March (2015) % Gain in players: "-7.73"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2015) Avg. players: "9,274"
April (2015) % Gain in players: "-33.02%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2015) Avg. players: "6,524"
May (2015) % Gain in players: "-29.65%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2015) Avg. players: "8,800"
June (2015) % Gain in players: "+34.88%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: -6.21%
From: July 2015 - December 2015
Statistics
July (2015) Avg. players: "9,016"
July (2015) % Gain in players: "+2.46%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2015) Avg. players: "8,835"
August (2015) % Gain in players: "-2.01%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2015) Avg. players: "6,889"
September (2015) % Gain in players: "-22.02%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2015) Avg. players: "5,521"
October (2015) % Gain in players: "-19.86%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2015) Avg. players: "4,378"
November (2015) % Gain in players: "-20.69%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2015) Avg. players: "5,249"
December (2015) % Gain in players: "+19.88%"
From: DayZ: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: -7.04%
Dayz: Summary
Overall average player increase/decrease %: -1.03%
Dayz overall average player statistics is that overall in month intervals the player's goes down by an average of 1.03%. Dayz did manage to start off with an average player base of around 23,000 players and now two years on the player base has shrunk to around 5000 this is a shrink in play base of over two years of around 75% but Given that Dayz has been available on steam for two years the player base to be in decline in a manner such this is quite an impressive feat with a core audience still remaining the game and from this projection appears that the game could still have a strong average player base but even many years to come. It seems that keeping an audience Dayz early access program has managed to keep an audience interested and sustained for a long time though eventually looking at what these statistics show in future productions that the player base will progressively shrink as time goes on at the rate the lists shrinking it could be viable for another two or three years. And for a game in the modern games industry to keep audiences attention to this long is quite impressive feat overall I would say that Dayz is quite a success story in that the game has me a lot of money and is Accordions for two years in all intensive purposes has succeeded.
Space engineers
From: October 2013 - December 2013
Statistics
October (2013) Avg. players: "1,192"October (2013) % Gain in players: "first month no data"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2013) Avg. players: "786"
November (2013) % Gain in players: "-34.08%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2013) % Gain in players: "-24.22%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: -29.15%
From: January 2014 - June 2014
Statistics
January (2014) Avg. players: "1000"
January (2014) % Gain in players: "+67.92%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2014) Avg. players: "1,292"
February (2014) % Gain in players: "+29.22%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2014) Avg. players: "2,207"
March (2014) % Gain in players: "+70.80%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2014) Avg. players: "4,660"
April (2014) % Gain in players: "+111.11%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2014) Avg. players: "4,164"
May (2014) % Gain in players: "-10.63%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2014) Avg. players: "3,725"
June (2014) % Gain in players: "-10.54%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: +42.98%
From: July 2014 - December 2014
Statistics
July (2014) Avg. players: "4,930"
July (2014) % Gain in players: "+32.33%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2014) Avg. players: "4,766"
August (2014) % Gain in players: "-3.33%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2014) Avg. players: "3.390"
September (2014) % Gain in players: "-28.86%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2014) Avg. players: "5,100"
October (2014) % Gain in players: "+50.44%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2014) Avg. players: "2,934"
November (2014) % Gain in players: "-42.46%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2014) Avg. players: "4,167"
December (2014) % Gain in players: "+42%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: +8.35%
From: January 2015 - June 2015
Statistics
January (2015) Avg. players: "5,596"
January (2015) % Gain in players: "+34.30%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2015) Avg. players: "5,587"
February (2015) % Gain in players: "-0.17%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2015) Avg. players: "4,523"
March (2015) % Gain in players: "-19.05%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2015) Avg. players: "3,785"
April (2015) % Gain in players: "-16.30%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2015) Avg. players: "3,102"
May (2015) % Gain in players: "-18,05%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2015) Avg. players: "2,691"
June (2015) % Gain in players: "-13.23%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: -5.41%
From: July 2015 - December 2015
Statistics
July (2015) Avg. players: "2,808"
July (2015) % Gain in players: "+4.34%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2015) Avg. players: "2,808"
August (2015) % Gain in players: "-0.01%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2015) Avg. players: "2,584"
September (2015) % Gain in players: "-7.96%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2015) Avg. players: "3,374"
October (2015) % Gain in players: "+30.55%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2015) Avg. players: "6,134"
November (2015) % Gain in players: "+81.80%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2015) Avg. players: "6,327"
December (2015) % Gain in players: "+3.14%"
From: Space Engineers: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: +18.64%
Space engineers: Summary
Overall average player increase/decrease %: +7.082%
Space engineers may be the one game on this list that has managed to expand its audience and grow from its initial start. In October 2013 the game started off with around an average player base of 1000 players and now coming to the end in December 2015 the game is around 6000 average players. As someone who has researched into other early access games is quite a feat for a game over a two-year period to increase its player base by sixfold. I do note this down to the hard work and commitment of the developers of space engineers with their constant feedback to the audience and transparency around issues. I think this is how over time they have managed to increase their player base and entice others into buying their games and also sticking with them for a long period of time. So I'll average it appears that each month interval the game on average increases its player release by 7% which corresponds with the average player base number overall. I think space engineers may be one of the most shining examples of early access at its finest and should be the staple of war early access game should be.
Space engineers may be the one game on this list that has managed to expand its audience and grow from its initial start. In October 2013 the game started off with around an average player base of 1000 players and now coming to the end in December 2015 the game is around 6000 average players. As someone who has researched into other early access games is quite a feat for a game over a two-year period to increase its player base by sixfold. I do note this down to the hard work and commitment of the developers of space engineers with their constant feedback to the audience and transparency around issues. I think this is how over time they have managed to increase their player base and entice others into buying their games and also sticking with them for a long period of time. So I'll average it appears that each month interval the game on average increases its player release by 7% which corresponds with the average player base number overall. I think space engineers may be one of the most shining examples of early access at its finest and should be the staple of war early access game should be.
Godus
From: September 2013 - December 2013
Statistics
September (2013) Avg. players: "1,116"
September (2013) % Gain in players: "first month no data"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2013) Avg. players: "697"
October (2013) % Gain in players: "-37.51%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2013) Avg. players: "183"
November (2013) % Gain in players: "-73.70%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2013) Avg. players: "548"
December (2013) % Gain in players: "+199.15%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: +29.31%
From: January 2014 - June 2014
Statistics
January (2014) Avg. players: "560"
January (2014) % Gain in players: "+2.18%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2014) Avg. players: "101"
February (2014) % Gain in players: "-81.85%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2014) Avg. players: "318"
March (2014) % Gain in players: "+213.29"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2014) Avg. players: "333"
April (2014) % Gain in players: "+4.63%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2014) Avg. players: "264"
May (2014) % Gain in players: "-20.81%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2014) Avg. players: "225"
June (2014) % Gain in players: "-14.51%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: +17.155%
From: July 2014 - December 2014
Statistics
July (2014) Avg. players: "171"
July (2014) % Gain in players: "-24.03"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2014) Avg. players: "652"
August (2014) % Gain in players: "+280.09%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2014) Avg. players: "438"
September (2014) % Gain in players: "-32.70%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2014) Avg. players: "373"
October (2014) % Gain in players: "-15%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2014) Avg. players: "320"
November (2014) % Gain in players: "-14.11%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2014) Avg. players: "347"
December (2014) % Gain in players: "+8.56%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: +33.8%
From: January 2015 - June 2015
Statistics
January (2015) Avg. players: "161"
January (2015) % Gain in players: "-53.51%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2015) Avg. players: "107"
February (2015) % Gain in players: "-33.60%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2015) Avg. players: "89"
March (2015) % Gain in players: "-16.92%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2015) Avg. players: "105"
April (2015) % Gain in players: "+8.56%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2015) Avg. players: "71"
May (2015) % Gain in players: "-31.53%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2015) Avg. players: "63"
June (2015) % Gain in players: "-11.02%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: -23.003%
From: July 2015 - December 2015
Statistics
July (2015) Avg. players: "56"
July (2015) % Gain in players: "-11.13%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2015) Avg. players: "61"
August (2015) % Gain in players: "+8.07%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2015) Avg. players: "57"
September (2015) % Gain in players: "-7.13%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2015) Avg. players: "50"
October (2015) % Gain in players: "-11.56%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2015) Avg. players: "43"
November (2015) % Gain in players: "-13.03%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2015) Avg. players: "38"
December (2015) % Gain in players: "-11.68%"
From: Godus: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: -7.74%
Godus: Summary
Overall average player increase/decrease %: +9.9044%
Godus undoubtedly is one of the worst titles to come out of early access being the polar opposite of a good area to stay with developers not promising or delivering features and if you shown in the reflection of its player base as well as its beginning size. compared to or the early access games this games only started out with 600 players on average which is a lot smaller than any other game on this list. then coming to December 2015 the average player base is down to just 40 players. the reason the overall average player counts shoes and 9% increase is because of erratic behavior over the lifespan of the game. With hundreds of people returning from single months and then leaving again but to go from an average player with 600 down to 40 shows that for this game keeping an audience this game has failed. but I think this is mostly down to the developers ultimately giving up on the game and not listening to their community which will be counted in the factor of what affects against longevity.
Starbound
From: December 2013 - June 2014
Statistics
December (2013) Avg. players: "39.647"
December (2013) % Gain in players: "first month no data"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
January (2014) Avg. players: "13,926"
January (2014) % Gain in players: "-64.87%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2014) Avg. players: "12,716"
February (2014) % Gain in players: "-8.69%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2014) Avg. players: "5,367"
March (2014) % Gain in players: "-57.79%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2014) Avg. players: "3.174"
April (2014) % Gain in players: "-40.86%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2014) Avg. players: "2,826"
May (2014) % Gain in players: "-10.96%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2014) Avg. players: "2,704"
June (2014) % Gain in players: "-4.30%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: -31.24%
From: July 2014 - December 2014
Statistics
July (2014) Avg. players: "2,422"
July (2014) % Gain in players: "-10.42%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2014) Avg. players: "1,918"
August (2014) % Gain in players: "-20.82%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2014) Avg. players: "1,554"
September (2014) % Gain in players: "-18.98%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2014) Avg. players: "1,660"
October (2014) % Gain in players: "+6.84%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2014) Avg. players: "1,754"
November (2014) % Gain in players: "+5.65%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2014) Avg. players: "2,989"
December (2014) % Gain in players: "+70.40%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: +5.445%
From: January 2015 - June 2015
Statistics
January (2015) Avg. players: "4,884"
January (2015) % Gain in players: "+63.41%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
February (2015) Avg. players: "10,132"
February (2015) % Gain in players: "+107.44%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2015) Avg. players: "3,177"
March (2015) % Gain in players: "-68.64%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2015) Avg. players: "2,858"
April (2015) % Gain in players: "-10.04%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2015) Avg. players: "3,088"
May (2015) % Gain in players: "+8.05%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2015) Avg. players: "2,687"
June (2015) % Gain in players: "-12.99%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: +14.538%
From: July 2015 - December 2015
Statistics
July (2015) Avg. players: "2,123"
July (2015) % Gain in players: "-20.98%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2015) Avg. players: "2,624"
August (2015) % Gain in players: "+23.59%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2015) Avg. players: "3,090"
September (2015) % Gain in players: "+17.74%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2015) Avg. players: "2,128"
October (2015) % Gain in players: "-31.12%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2015) Avg. players: "1,844"
November (2015) % Gain in players: "-13.37%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2015) Avg. players: "2,461"
December (2015) % Gain in players: "+33.47%"
From: Starbound: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: +1.555%
Starbound: Summary
Overall average player increase/decrease %: -2.4255%
Starbound initially started off with an audience of around 2500 on average back in December 2013 and two years on in December 2015 the audience is at the same level around 2500. But throughout the two years of its implementation the game has had many ups and downs in terms of players leaving and coming back most likely due to content updates but overall the average player count decreased by just 2.4% and a low number for an early access game. It seems that seeing the results for this game as well as for the game Dayz but being an early access doesn't seem the have a negative effect on the average player base for a game.this
Besiege
From: February 2015 - June 2015
Statistics
February (2015) Avg. players: "3,675"February (2015) % Gain in players: "first month no data"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
March (2015) Avg. players: "2,573"
March (2015) % Gain in players: "-29.98%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
April (2015) Avg. players: "1,383"
April (2015) % Gain in players: "-46.25%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
May (2015) Avg. players: "1.421"
May (2015) % Gain in players: "+2.74%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
June (2015) Avg. players: "1,017"
June (2015) % Gain in players: "-28.45%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
Average player increase/decrease average %: -25.485%
From: July 2015 - December 2015
Statistics
July (2015) Avg. players: "1,077"
July (2015) % Gain in players: "+5.91%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
August (2015) Avg. players: "1,078"
August (2015) % Gain in players: "+0.08%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
September (2015) Avg. players: "817"
September (2015) % Gain in players: "-24.21%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
October (2015) Avg. players: "742"
October (2015) % Gain in players: "-9.10%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
November (2015) Avg. players: "794"
November (2015) % Gain in players: "+6.93%"
From: Besiege: SteamCharts (2015)
December (2015) Avg. players: "908"
December (2015) % Gain in players: "+14.44%"
Average player increase/decrease average %: -0.991%
Besiege: Summary
Overall average player increase/decrease %: -13.238%
Besiege though is only banal for not even a year's average player races in quite a mess. With the average player audience going from 3000 members down to just 900 in the space of 10 months. The average player base decreases each month around 13% which is quite damaging. It appears that this scheme is quite an anomaly as on the marketplace steam this game has overwhelmingly positive review and people saying good things about the game. But the player base however seems to be dwindling and decreasing acquire a rapid rate compared to other games. What could be the purpose of such a decrease I think it is mostly down to a case-by-case basis as this game is more of a simulated game in which players can construct objects and doesn't really have an overall goal or a just to complete certain objectives and even if the game is praised being great job nevertheless that its job may only occupied players for a short amount time. This is quite a step forward in my research as it shows that early access alone is obviously not the biggest contributing factor it may actually be the and quality and quantity of gameplay in the game and this is an important issue that has to be noted.
Besiege though is only banal for not even a year's average player races in quite a mess. With the average player audience going from 3000 members down to just 900 in the space of 10 months. The average player base decreases each month around 13% which is quite damaging. It appears that this scheme is quite an anomaly as on the marketplace steam this game has overwhelmingly positive review and people saying good things about the game. But the player base however seems to be dwindling and decreasing acquire a rapid rate compared to other games. What could be the purpose of such a decrease I think it is mostly down to a case-by-case basis as this game is more of a simulated game in which players can construct objects and doesn't really have an overall goal or a just to complete certain objectives and even if the game is praised being great job nevertheless that its job may only occupied players for a short amount time. This is quite a step forward in my research as it shows that early access alone is obviously not the biggest contributing factor it may actually be the and quality and quantity of gameplay in the game and this is an important issue that has to be noted.
Early access longevity: Summary
Overall looking into these games and their average player races over the time they have been released of the things have become clear to me. One thing is that being an early access is not so much a determining factor as is is the game well made and has a lot of content. Also as well it shows that developers that use early access to their advantage in the fact that they release contents regularly that keeps the player base interested and refreshed actually managed to keep a large audience for a longer period of time. it seems that the defining factor on whether and early access game sustains an audience for a long period of time is whether it is frequently updated and also as well if the design of the game is well made with many different gameplay mechanics and a lot of content of the players to explore.
I would say my findings in this document is that early access doesn't affect longevity of the game what does affect longevity of a game is the quality of the game.
I would say my findings in this document is that early access doesn't affect longevity of the game what does affect longevity of a game is the quality of the game.
Bibliography
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