According to the Steam charts, War Thunder just had its largest player drop in a month since 2015 (-15%). Im wondering why?
In my opinion, i think it boils down to stale gameplay. Although on the surface it may appear like War Thunder has a bunch of game modes, they really dont. Arcade and Realistic have very similar game play styles with just some slight tweaks with mechanics. Sim follows this too but with more dramatic changes to views.
War Thunder does have some PVE modes but they’re so basic and gimped that i sometimes wonder if Gaijin is trolling us. I mean Air and Ground Assault modes literally need to give you a daily reward in order to motivate players to play them.
Overall, i just think War Thunder needs some fresh game modes, especially at top tier. Maybe some more Enduring Confrontation. Maybe something else.
Curious to see other theories.
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Last major update added copy paste Italian air which is fine but isn’t something “necessary”. Besides that and a few odd ends the majority of vehicles added were premiums.
Nothing new to play / grind for.
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No top tier contending aircraft, new AGM that’s better than the previous models in pretty much every way…
Gaijin has no interest in developing gameplay for veteran players. Their only interest is in tilling premiums.
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Almost all maps are urban CQC style more resembling a fps than a vehicle oriented combat game.
The increased cost of premium vehicles.
Imbalances between ground versus CAS.
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Maybe the new event format is being to bite. Last of the initial trio was naval which was always going to be the least likely to draw in players, and the BP is drawing to a close. The even grindier than usual grind wasn’t fun and put many off.
Add in the lacklustre introduction of the Hungarian aviation and bad start to the Mad Thunder event and players may have simply chosen to take a short break.
Tbh maybe it’s just a realistic effect after months of news about ever increasing player number and it’s just settling down.
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1: Counter Strike 2.
2: The entire Internet is taking a break from gaming as other video games also saw drops, artists stopped making as much art, etc.
2a: Not sure why this is happening.
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Probably just IRL things ramping up as May/June comes up
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This. I haven’t played the game since I finished the Object 292 event but I’ll be back on the 24th when the next BP season starts and I’ll also play the next tank event. By the price of the Jaguar IS on the Gaijin Market it seems that not as many players were interested in it, compared to the Object 292.
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They also have been banning a lot of bots and cheaters, probably well over 10k.
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It could be a bit more simple. BP comes to an end. Event is almost over … some may take a break. Like me. 2 weeks without WT was really good for my mental health. I’ll be back when the new BP + Event starts.
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I tend to agree that the new event format may be a large factor, I’m still recovering from the 1st tank event . . . lol. I went ahead and did the plane event, even tho I was not that interested in the Jaguar, but planes are my main thing, so I did it anyway. And I was happy to do the Naval event as I could actually use that event ship for Germany. I also play naval in RB and usually play the top 2 tiers in Bluewater, so an actual multiplier bonus as compared to the AB penalties I get doing planes and tanks. All in all . . a lot of work.
A WHOLE lot when you consider doing the BP tasks as well the entire time. I was glad for the April Fool’s Day “cosmetic” event . . . gave me some time to R & R finishing off the BP. & vehicle events. I made it to lvl 150 to get the title, now resting for all the stuff starting back up next week. I was happy to see a lower tier reward and smaller(still too big . . lol) game score requirement. But I’ll wager a good many players are just beat down a good deal and need some rest . . . I know I did . . lol. I imagine many will be back. . . Soon™
But also it is kind of traditional that player counts for online games drop when the Northern Hemisphere gets in to Spring and Summer months . … some folks do actually go out & touch grass . . . lol
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some folks do actually go out & touch grass . . . lol
in my case snow xD … still waiting for spring here in Sweden ^^
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Interesting how the traffic pattern changed with the event change though.
Last several years, April 1 with the big event reliably constituting their 12-month high in traffic, highest since the last April 1 (Red lines are the April events).
This year, there was a small bump at the start of the Object 292 event, and there’s been a steady decline since.
Hard not to attribute that to the event structure changes. One wonders how many people we’d have seen this April if they’d kept the old format.
Spoiler
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Time for another “game is dying due to the things I personally dislike” thread, it seems…
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I’ll reconsider playing this game when they finally admit that putting modern tech and tanks in maps designed for WW2 and 1930s vehicles was ever a good idea.
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That IS the gameplay for veteran players.
They got them hooked with the “new shiney” progression. So they have to keep throwing new shineyies at them to keep them playing and spending money.
The game itself is literally playing the same dozen maps over and over again. The game has no story arc or narrative (ironic in a “historical” game). They can’t get players interested in one like campaigns because they are conditioned to random repetitive game play and maximizing vehicle progression. The grind is the game…
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Maybe read the thread.
Never said the game is dying. I said the steam charts are reflecting a one month drop far exceeding any drop we’ve seen since 2015.
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And they introduced stale gameplay last month or how does it link together? Is this just venting post?
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Sure…
Just the views? Switching from mouse aim to real aircraft controls isn’t a dramatic change? Just the view?
Oh you haven’t played sim… Then why judge?
Also sim air is the advanced fresh gameplay for veterans. Most people stick with the handholding of mouse aim. So gameplay for veterans isn’t something that is lacking, maybe for tanks it would generate a few more players.
I also don’t get why you look at this phenomenom in isolation. Helldivers 2 is massively hyped at the moment and unlike baldurs gate 2 it has some genre overlap with most of war thunder (both being shooters, except for Air SB in WT). So helldivers 2 is also responsible for a dip in players
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