New Games Suck... Or Is It Just Me?

It's a day one Game Pass release, in the midst of there being a number of other notable things to play on that (Expedition 33, Blue Prince, Oblivion Remastered, etc). Those players won't show up on Steam. /shrug

E33's peak concurrent player is 145,063 and oblivion remastered is 216,784. Apparently they have np getting people to play on Steam, despite it's also on Game Pass day 1.

Also doom eternal peak concurrent player is 104,891 but Dark ages is only 31,470. That's more than 50% player loss for no DEI reason involved...

Welp maybe oblivion remastered's developers are 6 times more passionate than Doom developers! /s.

(No offense to Doom Dark Ages developers, I still have great respect for them and I love the art style. I just find all the passion talk kinda silly lol. Poor people's passion got judged by sales results!)

I explained my reasoning for not getting it in an earlier post, but I did watch a few reviews and no one seemed as excited about the end result as they did Eternal and 2016. One noted they felt "Slayered out" at this point and there is a bit of thematic burnout, but most said some aspects of the game (combat in particular) would be love or hate. It seems like it kindof shifted into new territory and I'm not sure it connects with everyone the way the previous two did.

It's probably also true that there are a lot of other releases out right now worth playing, but it's been a pretty stale year for FPS games from what I can tell esp compared to 2024, so I'd expect FPS fans to be a little more interested. Personally I think Painkiller seems more interesting, but I'm also kindof iffy on FPS games because many of them make me motion sick these days, I've also found I get bored of them very fast compared to earlier years.

And the same "explanation" can be used for every game that failed, or every game that was successful.

Like, you know, "E33 was successful because new soulslike parry mechanic brought something new that connects with player!" Or "it's successful because music connects with players!"

It's always easy to say X works or doesn't by second guessing after the sales result is out. The truth is that whether a creative work(like book, movie or game) become a hit or not is very much luck relevant.

Sometimes people just happened to want something at certain time and a new game delivered that so it become a hit. Then people with equal passion can try to deliver the another thing but market doesn't respond well.

If any of those can be anticipated with a formula then no one would lose money in game industry, but the truth is that 9/10 of time a game wouldn't become a hit. Luck and timing is a big factor on whether a game become a hit or not.

E33/Oblivion likely have even better numbers than what Steam alone reflects as well. Could also be a different mindset around some releases, or a reflection of them being out for more than a few days. Different regions maybe too?

The previous DOOM games were just in a Humble bundle as well, so maybe folks are playing those as a result.

I hadn't seen complaints about the style in general, but I did see more wait-and-see attitudes due to each of the modern DOOM games mixing up the formula a bit, and not everyone liking what Eternal did as much.

Regardless, I don't think it's necessarily indicative of it being a bad game. Or one that won't see solid sales in the long run. I know for me, even the previous ones weren't drop everything sorts of things. More something to get to when I'm in the mood. So, along the lines of what you're saying. Timing is a big aspect. Could just be they dropped it in a crowded window.

My explanation was pretty specific to my issues with Eternal coming from 2016 and what appeared to be doubling down on in Dark Ages. It wasn't that broad. This is an established series with multiple titles, so it's pretty easy to say "I don't like what they did here compared to the previous games and not buying it as a result".

I also don't think luck has that much to do with it. This year has been starved for FPS content, the past 2-3 years have had a lot of well regarded titles coming out and 2025 hasn't had any I can note or think of and we're almost halfway through the year.

It's also not that difficult - have conversations with people about what they liked about previous titles. Do you want people connecting with your game because they liked it or because you happened to hit the timing right when there was nothing else good available? I doubt anyone you ask about 2016/Eternal would've suggested adding the mechanics they did.

To be clear again, I'm not calling it bad. It just seems like they dug in on the aspects of Eternal I didn't like, added more stuff I'm kindof meh about, and that kind makes me think it's best to hold out. I was open and willing to think otherwise but so far reviews haven't really changed my opinion. It doesn't seem like it connects with me and if sales numbers are down it's a clear indication that it doesn't connect with others as well.

Exp 33 did come out of nowhere and get a lot of attention.

I'll be honest, I havent even bothered going for a daily kill or two in Wilds because of it.