Total War Attila player retention thread - last update 01.06.2015

[alQamar]

Hi guys,

another project I would like to continue here in addition to the TWC benchmark thread for Total War Attila.

The TWC member named the_eye has my deepest respect for putting up a statistics thread and provinding very in-depth details about Total War Rome 2 first, later also about Steam Games in general. It is a very complex stuff but a very interesting read. Link: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...cally-Speaking

My thread won't go so much into the detail and complexity of maths and true statistics rather than proving some figures and comparisons about the player retention of Rome 2 and Attila.
Granted both games should basically attract a very same fanbase, unlike Shogun 2 - which was not adopted by everyone because the period / setting, I hope the figures will be founded enough to make a comparison even possible and legit.

Basically this thread is supposed to continue the "Wishful Thinking of SEGA and CA - and the reality" thread, one I've stopped at the beginning of October 2014. So close after one full year after it was released.
Original Thread: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...nd-the-reality

Latest comparisons of Rome 2 and Attila (March 2015): link

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Hopefully - it is the time to finally get over the disaster of Rome 2 now - at least I managed that partly - so I will give this thread a less sensational name, whilst the content should address the same subject:

- how many players are playing the game at day one?
- having a focus on the trend of the player retention
- providing long term views on the metacritics rating from reviewers and users alike.


I think my old thread went quite well to justify all the work I've put into that idea, and so I will start here again.


changelog:
02/28/2015 - added results from the first two weeks.
03/15/2015 - added results from the first four weeks.
03/18/2015 - Attila daily player activity fells clearly below Rome 2 for the first time
04/01/2015 - March update and comparisons
06/01/2015 - April / May update and comparisons. Second verdict.

[alQamar]

Spoiler for Attila player retention / figures: 

[

[alQamar]

May 2015 Update:

Spoiler for first weeks comparisons: 

Attila vs Rome 2 player retention comparisons:



Verdict after the first 2 weeks:

While Attila started with a resonable lower rate of players compared to Rome 2, the amount that drop the game is much milder. This makes me curious why.
The opinion about the game is very much better. source: metacritics.com

Rome 2
1st week:

400 positive user ratings
107 medium user ratings
886 negative user ratings

2nd week:
52 additional positive user ratings
29 additional medium user ratings
199 additional negative user ratings

Attila:
1st week:
179 positive user ratings
6 medium user ratings
30 negative user ratings

2nd week:
15 additional positive user ratings
1 additional medium user ratings
1 additional negative user ratings

normalized chart. 

1st day peak Rome 2: 118302 players online / playing the same time
1st day peak Attila:  26346 players online / playing the same time

[crucify_ego]

Who cares how many people are playing the games. What's the point exactly?

[Lugotorix]

We want to see the success of their products with their customers, and have a thriving community.

[WarriorPrince]

Who cares how many people are playing the games. What's the point exactly?

Given that alQamar's similar thread from R2 was quite popular (see OP for link) I would say quite a few people.

Looking forward to seeing your work alQamar!

[crucify_ego]

Fair enough. I guess it's just me that finds it completely unnecessary, but to each his own.

[Linke]

What I think its they know they wont get as many customers with Attila. But they think its Worth it and they can afford it to win back their core fan base, thats. The main Goal I believe

[Wolves In The Throne Room]

I've played since Medieval 1 and have modded a good bit but they've lost me.

I was thinking about giving Rome 3:Total Fire a try, but definitely didn't preorder, though now that I've read several reviews of the retail version on gaming sites, I realize that if I give into the excitement of a new release, within 20-30 turns I'll be regretting it. For example every single review laments how friendly AI still refuses ridiculous beneficial trade offers, that the family tree and faction operations are shallow busy work that mean nothing to gameplay. I'm sure it will degenerate into Agent: Total War just like Rome 2 did. I'm sure the battles will be horrible blob fests, and seriously, just look at the horrible smoke trails on fire artillery in the videos. How does Empire still look better?

Maybe when it's on sale for $9.99 and there are several dozen overhaul mods available I'll give it try.

Such a shame the series has ended up this way

[dmperu11]

I can honestly say that I will play Attila as soon as there are good mods out there for it. I don't think I can play vanilla, it just wouldn't be as much fun.

[Cope]

They aren't going to win back their traditional support with Attila. There is virtually no chance.

[alQamar]

Hey guys, bad news so far, the official Steam stats site is bugged.
http://store.steampowered.com/stats

I can try to use other sources like steamdb and steamgraph but even they seem to have problems
example:
http://steamgraph.net/index.php?acti...h&appid=214950

Attila is not even listed at Steamgraphs
http://steamgraph.net/index.php?acti...h&appid=325610

oh that conspiracy *joking*

first peak on steamdb is reported with 8,544 players online the same time, but take this figure with a grain of salt as it is not released in all regions yet. I hope we will have some more figures at the end of the day.

[alQamar]

I can honestly say that I will play Attila as soon as there are good mods out there for it. I don't think I can play vanilla, it just wouldn't be as much fun.

well regarding the functionality and unit visuals it seems to be very much whole. Have you seen the machinima of Wolfman and Kaisa? I was impressed this was vanilla.

[SKSlave]

I pre-ordered every game of TW since Barbarian Invasion. I stopped pre-ordering at Attila for obvious reasons. I imagine there's a lot of people in the same boat as me.

[alQamar]

till now the 1st day players peak is a about 26,346 players for the 17.02.2015.


We have to take this first result with a grain of salt because it is not from a 100% reliable site, then it may be that not all players have got their keys or haven't completed the download yet, so we should wait for future hours to get whole result.
If this is indeed the maximum amount then the interest into Attila is much more lower, afaik we had even 38.000 at Shogun 2 first day. I am excited for tomorrow.

[JustCrabbe]

Most of my TW friends thought atilla was an expansion even up until now. It's downloading now but I've got a feeling this game is to rome 2 what napoleon was to empire.

[Hawk_345]

Most of my TW friends thought atilla was an expansion even up until now. It's downloading now but I've got a feeling this game is to rome 2 what napoleon was to empire.

I will agree with this. I have not tried the game yet, as it is installing. But I felt the same way when I heard Attila was coming out. I said to myself...Napoleon. When Napoleon was released, I picked it up, said "this is what Empire Should have been." and never really played Napoleon after because it felt so "small" compared to Empire.

Unlike Napoleon however, Atilla does not focus on one region, but the world of Rome II only slightly into the future. So I do hold out a little more hope for it. But in the end, the "idea" of Attila does sound more like an expansion rather than it's own full price game. That is an impression many previous player will be having, especially if they have not done further reading into what Attila actually does, and only take it at face value.

Overall, this will affect 1st day numbers.

[totalwarfan989]

till now the 1st day players peak is a about 26,346 players for the 17.02.2015.


We have to take this first result with a grain of salt because it is not from a 100% reliable site, then it may be that not all players have got their keys or haven't completed the download yet, so we should wait for future hours to get whole result.
If this is indeed the maximum amount then the interest into Attila is much more lower, afaik we had even 38.000 at Shogun 2 first day. I am excited for tomorrow.

Yes this is a huge surprise for me. I thought that total war Attila would top rome 2s 118,000 concurrent players. But no only 26,000 then down to 24,000. Waiting for the weekend for better results. Do you think there is anyway for it to reach 100,000?

[Musteline]

I don't think so, rome II probably sold so much its going to be hard, even more when rome II is generally perceived as a let down.

[totalwarfan989]

What do you think the all time peak will be?