If you don’t read MMO-related subreddits, you might not be aware that the folks coming in on the daily to insist that New World is nearly dead because it didn’t maintain its launch-week peak concurrency have practically become a meme. This past weekend, the chorus spread to mainstream gaming sites too.
We’ve noted before that game has dropped to a little less than half of its peak concurrency since its launch over a month ago, which sounds bad, even though commonly accepted MMO wisdom is that most MMOs don’t hold on to the vast majority of their playerbases past the first month of a launch or expansion without some sort of enticement – like a big patch – to keep people playing. Then again, that wisdom became common during the era of subs and boxes that included a month of free sub, an era we’re no longer in. Either way, New World didn’t have a big patch or even a Halloween event; it’s just had multiple bugs and bungles. Nothing insurmountable, but definitely the kind of thing that made a lot of players (including me) punch the pause button to see where the game is going before investing more time.
How often do you make it through the first month of a new MMO? Are you still sticking it out in New World?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
