9 in 10 people who bought XR have stopped playing

[jasonbarron]

@Berhg--thanks for gracing us with your presence. How are things going in the outside world?

[vargata]

@Berhg--thanks for gracing us with your presence. How are things going in the outside world?

same for you. How are things going in the outside world?

[jasonbarron]

@Berhg--thanks for gracing us with your presence. How are things going in the outside world?

same for you. How are things going in the outside world?

The extent of my "outside world" experience this past week has been looking at the thermometer which has been averaging about -30 Fahrenheit...been playing the hell out of XR just to stay warm.

[steelgrey75]

I actually trapped one of my testicles at one point whilst grabbing my keyboard and it was a measure of relief compared to playing the game, how anyone could enjoy spending a full quarter of their game time traveling through space highways and say it is exciting is beyond me.

[MasterBata]

I'm not convinced.

I reckon Braban has his head screwed on, he knows people are looking for Frontier:Elite with 3D and multiplayer, I reckon he will deliver it, but I guess we will wait and see.

Huh, I thought all of the Elite games were in 3D
I wouldn't be so certain that he can deliver, remember First Encounters? It was a bugfest, not unlike X:R.

Regarding the topic of this thread - I am not one of the 9/10 that stopped playing, I am the 1/10 that didn't even get to play because of horrid performance

[jl1aisbett]

I'm a little late to the party but one major contributor to the drop off for rebirth is simply the fact that people were waiting for it to be released.

This means much more than normal played the game the moment it was released (or tried to at least) and after the first couple of days those people would have gone back to the normal hours at which they play games.

Now X% would have flat out stopped playing the game due to bugs, performance issues, hating the features, just not liking the game, the inability to actually launch the game when they first tried and couldn't be bother being persistent about it etc.

Y% would have kept playing but just moved the hours they played to a more normal time (would have affected the number of people playing at the same time)

Z% have stopped playing for now but are waiting for patches, mods etc. and will be back.

The catch here is we have no idea what X, Y or Z actually are. We do know however that the entire drop off is spread across all 3 groups and can't be attributed to any one of them.

Another game with a similar release was Portal 2, a crap load of people were also waiting for that game to be released when it came out (and it has an metacritic score of 95 - http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/portal-2)

Here is the first month steam stats for Portal 2 and as per rebirth it is also a steam only game:

http://steamgraph.net/index.php?action= ... 5900000000

Unlike rebirth it wasn't particularly buggy and people didn't exactly hate the game ... yet it still had one hell of a drop off as well. The numbers are a crap load higher though but it equates to about a 90% drop off.

[dzhedzho]

I'm a little late to the party but one major contributor to the drop off for rebirth is simply the fact that people were waiting for it to be released.

This means much more than normal played the game the moment it was released (or tried to at least) and after the first couple of days those people would have gone back to the normal hours at which they play games.

Now X% would have flat out stopped playing the game due to bugs, performance issues, hating the features, just not liking the game, the inability to actually launch the game when they first tried and couldn't be bother being persistent about it etc.

Y% would have kept playing but just moved the hours they played to a more normal time (would have affected the number of people playing at the same time)

Z% have stopped playing for now but are waiting for patches, mods etc. and will be back.

The catch here is we have no idea what X, Y or Z actually are. We do know however that the entire drop off is spread across all 3 groups and can't be attributed to any one of them.

Another game with a similar release was Portal 2, a crap load of people were also waiting for that game to be released when it came out (and it has an metacritic score of 95 - http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/portal-2)

Here is the first month steam stats for Portal 2 and as per rebirth it is also a steam only game:

http://steamgraph.net/index.php?action= ... 5900000000

Unlike rebirth it wasn't particularly buggy and people didn't exactly hate the game ... yet it still had one hell of a drop off as well. The numbers are a crap load higher though but it equates to about a 90% drop off.

Y is a good point.

As for the rest, while true, basicly mean X failed to become these people's primary game for one reason or another (either unplayable, didn't like it, or didn't like it more than their typical routine).
As for me I do play the game from to time, but some part's don't seem ready for prime time.

I started a free-play game, and basicaly fully upgraded the skunk, and improved my relations with most factions I could. Have not bothered to do any trading, or building since my original attempts.

[pr0nflakes]

remember First Encounters? It was a bugfest, not unlike X:R.

Peperridge farm remembers.I also remember it being abandoned pretty fast and left to the fans to fix. The funniest thing about FFE was the station announcements, they used real people. They were frickin' awful. It was literately like watching your next door neighbor try to act.
And lets not forget the Missing textures on Earth. How the hell that got missed i do not know.

[Akeela]

I have stopped playing, though I still regularly check here and over at the Nexus for mods that are coming out.

I do intend to return to play the game eventually. However, I figure they are going to need a good month of bug fixes, plus a whole lot of mods that will put the fun parts back in the game.

[gattsumoto]

Speaking as a scientifically literate person, one would also have to see a "control" - that is, what are the figures on any other game?

By which I mean that even the best game in the world would probably have a fairly rapid drop-off (because most people have little patience, and it takes time to get to know a game to the point where you understand how to get the best out of it, especially for simulators).

No, please, no. Please don't compare this game with the best game in the world. It doesn't belong there.

I doubt the best game in the world drop from 14k players to 2.7k in 3 days. Prove it to us.

[Berhg]

Z% have stopped playing for now but are waiting for patches, mods etc. and will be back.

Good points, jl1aisbett, well taken. I am in your "Z" group. Interestingly, that is how I handled previous X games as well. My first X game was X2. For reasons I don't remember (but could guess), I couldn't get into it. But I loved the idea of what it wanted to do, so I got X3:Reunion. Again I couldn't quite get into. You might think I'd just give up on X games at this point, but I got X3TC just in case it had developed into something that I could play. And it had! I was able to break through the learning curve to play and enjoy a 100 hour game of Terran Conflict. I knew there was an good game just waiting for me in X!

Then I started experimenting with mods. OH... my... Gosh! What was good just got AWESOME. I love my sandbox games, and when I add mods to tailor gameplay to my taste it becomes a sublime gaming experience. A modded X3AP has given me 1000+ hrs of excellent gaming.

At this point I believe Egosoft does not make games with gameplay that I enjoy, but rather makes games with a framework that can be moddified into something with gameplay that I enjoy.

@Jassonbarron. Lol! Life is grand. It was oddly warm in Georgia this week, but its cooling off again. The highlight of my week was getting shot in the face with simunition at a training exercise. Teach me not to rush into a house at a domestic dispute just because a woman is screaming in pain.

[yoyolll]

I'm a little late to the party but one major contributor to the drop off for rebirth is simply the fact that people were waiting for it to be released.

This means much more than normal played the game the moment it was released (or tried to at least) and after the first couple of days those people would have gone back to the normal hours at which they play games.

Now X% would have flat out stopped playing the game due to bugs, performance issues, hating the features, just not liking the game, the inability to actually launch the game when they first tried and couldn't be bother being persistent about it etc.

Y% would have kept playing but just moved the hours they played to a more normal time (would have affected the number of people playing at the same time)

Z% have stopped playing for now but are waiting for patches, mods etc. and will be back.

The catch here is we have no idea what X, Y or Z actually are. We do know however that the entire drop off is spread across all 3 groups and can't be attributed to any one of them.

Another game with a similar release was Portal 2, a crap load of people were also waiting for that game to be released when it came out (and it has an metacritic score of 95 - http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/portal-2)

Here is the first month steam stats for Portal 2 and as per rebirth it is also a steam only game:

http://steamgraph.net/index.php?action= ... 5900000000

Unlike rebirth it wasn't particularly buggy and people didn't exactly hate the game ... yet it still had one hell of a drop off as well. The numbers are a crap load higher though but it equates to about a 90% drop off.

Also keep in mind most people beat portal 2 in about 4-6 hours.

[Draslin]

I apologize if someone has already broached the subject, I don't have the motivation to invest in reading this entire thread with my disappointment with Rebirth.

But, most people seem to be comparing apples to oranges. How about we compare apples to apples?

X: Rebirth
http://steamcharts.com/app/2870#All
All Peak: 14,664
24-Hour Peak: 2,068

X: Terran Conflict
http://steamcharts.com/app/2820#All
All Peak: 713
24-Hour Peak: 506

X: Albion Prelude
http://steamcharts.com/app/201310#All
All Peak: 1,853
24-Hour Peak: 945

Seems to me that There is a commanding difference in the number of players still playing these games. Granted, many may be waiting for the bugs to clear. But I don't recall ever letting the bugs of the older games stop me. I'd reload, restart, or even script around them where possible.

For the record, not a fan of this game. I've been thinking about purchasing Albion Prelude but I just can't bring myself to do it after being baited and switched like this. I had reservations about pre-ordering this game when I heard about the one ship fits all decision. But I thought, it's Egosoft! They can probably make it work.

As it turns out the number 1 design choice of this game that kills it for me is the one ship fits all. I'm not interested. If I wanted that I'd of played the original X game which never appealed. It wasn't until the later X Games where virtually everything was fair game that I got interested.

It was made out to seem like the empire you build in Rebirth would more or less run itself, but that's not the case. You manually make decisions for everything. Nothing is autonomous. Well, if I have to do all the work anyway, why not also let me pilot the damn things since that's the only thing I'm not doing. Add to that the fact that it would vastly improve the game experience. If something doesn't move under AI control, you can take direct control.

Oh hey, look at that! I'm ranting. I'll stop now.

[TrickyDick]

I have been waiting for this game forever, and it saddens me to see what you all have to say about it. That said, I probably won't finally get around to purchasing it, and just stick with my EVE, and move over to Star Citizen whenever the hell it actually gets released.

I don't want to shit on the X series...I played the hell out of TC to the point that I haven't even started an AP game yet. But after seeing your comments/online reviews/videos, I just can't justify shelling out $50 for a game that will most certainly leave me sorely disappointed. I made that mistake with "Two Worlds", and I will not make it again.

Egosoft, if you guys read these things, I don't think you've lost a customer in me quite yet...but I'm standing (reluctantly) at the precipice.
Here's for hoping for fixes/reworks/add-ons before too many people turn their backs.

[Rug]

Also keep in mind most people beat portal 2 in about 4-6 hours.

This is a point that I have difficulty understanding about how games get rated. Portal + Portal 2 were both well received and rated games, which gave a pretty short experience. When you stop and look at them, they are just beautifully presented mini-game puzzles. They were fun, but they're not games I will be going back and sinking hours into.

The X games, including Rebirth, are very different. They are like projects created by programmers who love to code, but hate to do any documentation ! After 80-few hours so far, I am still learning not only how to do things, but also what can actually be done. Within hours of release this game was being criticised for it's lack of content/depth. As time passes, it is becoming more apparent that much of the game was hidden behind bugs, an unfamiliar (and slow) interface, and a lack of information.

10 hours with Portal, and you're done. 100 hours with Rebirth, and you can decide if it is your kind of game or not. Yet both games are given ratings based on the first few hours of play - which in one case shows everything there is to see, and in the other shows virtually none of the potential, and the worst of the learning curve.

These forums have a history of user's helping each other to write the manuals for the game. To provide guides for trading, fighting, station building ... There are also excellent modders who enable us to tailor a base product to a tailor-made game for our particular foibles. I am really looking forward to the day that normal service is resumed.

Rug

P.S. @ yoyolll - You were having problems with frame rates. Did 1.19 make any difference for you ? I haven't noticed you post about it, but could have missed it ...

[Coruskane]

And 8 out of 10 cats prefer whiskas, what's the point?

best quote

[jl1aisbett]

Also keep in mind most people beat portal 2 in about 4-6 hours.

I'll admit it's not a perfect example but it's the best I could think of that had a high level of anticipation just before release (that's on steam at least).

Most of the highly anticipated games that people play for a lot longer aren't really steam games so I couldn't use them as an example.

In reality very few games are similar to rebirth at all, albion prelude is the only X game that's similar and was at the time of release a purely steam only game:

http://steamgraph.net/index.php?action= ... 7064400000

It doesn't highlight the anticipation point though because it was only announced a couple of weeks before it was released so nobody knew it was coming.

[jl1aisbett]

They are like projects created by programmers who love to code, but hate to do any documentation !

God do I know so many programmers like that, feel like slapping them all the time.

They give us all a bad name, unfortunately I think they are starting to outnumber those of us that spend craps loads of time documenting stuff.

[Charlie901]

Add me to that list .01 Playtime since preorder and installation!

As a TRUE X FAN I have no desire to play this until quite a number of fixes and additions are made!

[Hob Anagerik]

Checking the steam charts is pointless at this time. The game is very buggy and I doubt people want to waste time playing it as is, which is understandable. I think those numbers will be on the rise once most functionality is working as intended.

That's probably true, but this isn't pointless at all. It reflects the communities feelings towards the game at this point in time, and that would be that the majority of people don't seem to think it is worth playing right now. As you say, once functionality improves, so will the situation. Unless you are suggesting that at this future point in time when things are working better, and the game climbs back up the charts a bit that would be equally pointless?