When is an online game actually "Dying"?

[shintoki]

We have seen these words used for nearly every game out there at some point in time. X game is "dying". Ignoring the completely ridiculous claims from new patches in Fortnite or League, next entries in COD changing the formula, Halo not putting up the same numbers it use to, Fall Guys getting replaced by Among Us as the new Twitch darling.

But when is a game dying? I've been playing Quake Live for the past few months and there are always several servers full for a 10 year old title based on a 20 year old title. Arena and Team Arena is also showing a few hundred users on the servers. Wolfenstein ET, BF2, BF1942, Allied Assault, and many of the early 00s titles still have hundreds of players on them. I can still go on any time of the day and get in a match. When I think of the word dying, I think that this game will not be around much longer and I need to play it now. This could be due to developers pulling the server or the player count getting to the point of having to coordinate being on at the same time to get a match. A severe disruption in my normal activities is the point I consider dying.

Ignoring the close to two decade titles, I've heard it for many of the games I've played over the years most of their first month of launch. Quake Champions, Red Orch 2, Tribes Ascend, Killing Floor, Natural Selection 2, Titanfall 2, etc. All games that have been dying for years... yet I can still get a match quick in any of them today but Tribes Ascend. Tribes Ascend seems to be one that is actually dead, but it was "dying" from 2012 anyways.

 

[MrNewVegas]

Damn, I just watched a video on YT maybe a month ago about this topic. I dont remember who it was but I believe it was one of the prominent essay style creators.

 

[Launchpad]

When I don't like it

 

[lucebuce]

When you can't consistently find people to play with, be it through in-game matchmaking or discords/groups.

Smash Melee kinda proves that a game doesn't need any input from the developers to still be very relevant and popular.

 

[Dio]

when the user has difficulty doing activities because of the dwindling userbase, id argue.

Damn, I just watched a video on YT maybe a month ago about this topic. I dont remember who it was but I believe it was one of the prominent essay style creators.

Click to shrink...

couldve been Raycevick

 

[rpm]

When you can't find people to play with

 

[hydruxo]

I think it's a combination of two things: Massive drop in the player base on a daily basis and lack of updates / communication from the devs. Player base is the most important if it's a MP PVP game.

 

[Deleted member 79451]

When I have to wait more than a minute to get into a match.

 

[Alberto Robert]

I hate this term because more often than not people say a game is dead when they stop seeing news or buzz about said game, even though they don't play it or engage with anyone that actually plays it

 

[jotun?]

A lot of times games will persist for years and years, but with a small population of almost entirely veteran players it's hard for new players to get into it. At that point it's dead to new growth, but not dead to those few dedicated players.

Dead to the devs when they stop making money from it and stop pushing updates

Dead to everyone when the servers shut down or active player count is single digits

 

[Arctic Chris]

When you can't consistently find people to play with, be it through in-game matchmaking or discords/groups.

Click to shrink...

This is where I am coming from. I need to be able to get into a match in 5-minutes or less.

 

[Brass Body Dave]

I feel like when it's impossible to get a game with anyone besides psychotics who do nothing else with their day but play it, that's when its dead to me. If I can't stumble on someone at my skill level, that game can eat shit for the rest of its life.

 

[watham]

I would lean towards when Devs stop putting out new content. Decaying numbers seems like an obvious metric but that could easily be fairweather users jumping ship for the next new thing. If a game is Microtransactional or subscription driven a game can still remain profitable with a smaller, more dedicated user base.

 

[Sonix]

As soon as the devs make one change that you personally don't like /s

 

[Phokal]

The most popular answer is only applicable for newer, matchmaking only games. The game is dying when you can have trouble finding a match. If a game still supports private lan play or hosting, it can never die bc you can always make it happen. Like, a board game. It might not be popular but you can always play it.

But newer titles that only have matchmaking can result in long queue times regardless of your effort to bring in friends, and that's a tragedy

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

When you have that one guy who goes into any bad news threads about a game to specifically shout "It's not dying! Me and my friends are still having a blast with the game!" That's the surest sign that the game is doomed.

 

[Greywaren]

When you struggle to find a match, the game is dying. When there's literally nobody playing, it's dead.

 

[MrNewVegas]

when the user has difficulty doing activities because of the dwindling userbase, id argue.

couldve been Raycevick

Click to shrink...

Thats the ticket! Thank you!

 

[Tecnniqe]

When you have a decaying player base by definition I guess "gradually ceasing to exist or function; in decline and about to disappear."

 

[bevishead]

Hmmm, last time I tried to play Star Wars Battlefront on PC, I was in matchmaking more than 5 mins before I quit out. I'm sure the game is dead / a digital paper weight. This is one reason every game should have private servers, matchmaking doesn't work when you drop below a certain amount of players. At least with private servers the community can organize play times.

 

[Gearkeeper 8A]

Normally people say that about games they dont like, it doesnt matters if its true or not as long as you make the people playing that game mad.

 

[Adamska]

Player base may come and go, but the game isn't done until it's been abandoned by the devs/publisher.

 

[Okii]

When I don't like it

Click to shrink...

The actual answer.

 

[Transistor]

I chose "When developers stop pushing out new content" because it's usually at that point that many players will move on and only a dedicated fanbase will continue playing.

 

[Duffking]

When there's someone on era the game doesn't appeal to.

1000000 active users? Yeah, but some_random on era says the game is dying, so there.

 

[Iron Eddie]

I have always been a believer when it takes too long to find a match. I won't wait more than 2 minutes.

 

[hanmik]

When they are bad copies of other games..

and

 

[Kiro]

It's a tough thing to answer. Is Starcraft dead? Diablo 2/3? Are they dying? I'm not so sure.
I would say a game is dying if it didn't meet its target longevity. Avengers is dying/dead, as is that mech game by EA (I literally can't recall the name right now). But other games that have less players but are years older and achieved way beyond expectations, are not dying/dead but laid to rest and aged like a fine wine.

 

[Sonix]

When they are bad copies of other games..

and

Click to shrink...

*CliffyB has left the chat*

 

[Deleted member 2840]

Dota 2 is die shira is proof

 

[Deleted member 13015]

It's when the servers are shut down.

I recently replayed Day of Defeat: Source on steam and it was packed with people around the world.

I always love playing older online games and thinking "Who the hell are you people and why are you still here"?

 

[PucePikmin]

When you can't make a random match anymore.

 

[Pyro]

I don't think a decaying player base necessarily counts because that starts after one month or so. I'd say a lack of developer/content updates as a small but active player base can even start to fracture once that happens.

 

[Cleve]

Decaying player base is not a good metric. These things tend to spike and by this definition something like WoW is "dying" and has been for years but still puts out new content that is wildly successful.
Even games like Apex are still very successful and not dying, but I'm sure the player count is down from the post-launch hype days.

I'd say it's dying if you can't reliably get a fast queue at any time of the day in any bracket.

 

[Castamere]

Its "dying" when you can no longer match with newer players. If all you can get paired as a new player with is 300 hourers, or max levels, then it's dying. It's dead when you can't find a match.

 

[Lashley]

Dying when the user numbers start going down

 

[Ravelle]

When you're called Marvel Heroes or City of Heroes.

Games die when they are killed, even when they're still popular.

:(

 

[xir]

If no servers yeah it's dead
If you have to wait over five minutes for a pick up non ranked game dying
If you can only find matches by coordinating ahead of time or on designated times than it's a zombie

 

[Deleted member 2802]

Dota 2 is die shira is proof

Click to shrink...

 

[Cosmic Voyager]

When devs stop pushing content for it

 

[sibarraz]

When I tell to myself while playing "Is taking a while to find a match"

 

[AIan]

It starts with "down from its peak", transitions into "decaying player base" and penultimately lands on "no more content" before possibly shutting its servers down.

 

[Hyun Sai]

Servers definitely down or no viable pool of players online, even with discord type manual search.

 

[DevilMayGuy]

When the player pool is so small that finding matches takes a long time or you constantly run into the same people every match

 

[Grifter]

Where's the choice for "week 2?"

 

[Deleted member 36578]

When it takes so long to get into a match you just want to give up the search.

 

[antitrop]

When people stop saying that it's dying and just stop talking about it altogether.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

When you have that one guy who goes into any bad news threads about a game to specifically shout "It's not dying! Me and my friends are still having a blast with the game!" That's the surest sign that the game is doomed.

Click to shrink...

It's this.

I had a sick fascination with WildStar threads. There's something compelling about people clinging desparately onto hope.

 

[Deleted member 198]

When it's online population chart looks like this:

 

[DanteMenethil]

If someone tells you you just gotta ask for games on discord then the game is dead