I:R comparative performance with other GSG

[IsaacCAT]

I have found that there is the Grand Strategy Category in the Steam DB page: https://steamdb.info/graph/?tagid=4364

If we plot the games by number of 24h peak players we see that I:R is in the second quartile compared to all the games labeled as GSG.

What is more interesting is that much older games retain an important group of playerbase. PDX having many games in the top position is quite an achievement and that confirms the 'ecosystem' rule. Specially when other franchises like Sid Meier's Civilization and Total War games are also able to replicate this result.

The case of I:R is quite odd, though, because it is new and with the right ecosystem so we should expect a better performance.

Something interesting to check with time is the total number of players in this category. Some people are saying that GSG has a limited player base and games will canabilize players from other games. Remains to be seen if new original games can bring new players to the genre.

I will update this Thread weekly to get an evolution of the player base for GSG with time. As for Wednesday 31/08/2022 the cumulative 24h peak player base is 315,017 players. (I will update it every Wednesday). I will post the uptaded chart of 24h peak players Vs Time here:

PS: I have added the sum of all GSG 24h peak players from PDX to compare to the overall numbers to control the trend lines of both numbers in time. The two hypothesis to check:

1. new GSG bring more players to the genre
2. new GSG from PDX do not cannabilize existing PDX GSG

 

[Jernau_]

Would you really consider the TW games as GSG games?

 

[IsaacCAT]

Would you really consider the TW games as GSG games?

I don’t know. I am using Steam DB categories. Using strategy only category is worse.

 

[IsaacCAT]

I have updated the chart with the 24h peak players of games in the category of Grand Strategy of the Seam DB for the current week.

The overall count for GSG category has lost players after the huge peak from the new expansion of Total War: Warhammer III. The other games remain stable. I have highligthed in the chart the games that contribute up to 50% of the players of this category. This week, 4 games contribute to more than 50% of all players.

I:R at 754 peak players the last 24h has increased 22% from last week. Some people say that the youtube video from oversimplified about the first punic war may have increased the interest of players to renact it in I:R.

 

[IsaacCAT]

Today weekly update is live in the first post of the thread.

Highlights:

• The total number of GSG players remain stable around 300,000 players
• Total Warhammer III has descended a lot this week after the initial peak of 80,000 players for the new expansion
• The decline of players from Total Warhammer has been offset by CK3 friends and foes expansion released the 8th of September giving it a boost of 30% more players and the Europe Universalis IV lions of the north expansion with 50% more players this week

I:R goes back to around 600 24h peak players.

 

[IsaacCAT]

Another wednesday, another update.

This week the overall numbers of players remain at the same number of 300,000 players.

The top 7 games have been shuffled a bit. Total War: Warhammer III is no longer at top and Sid Meier's Civilization VI has the throne.

The biggest winner is Stellaris as yesterday the Toxoids expansion went live and the game has experienced a +50% increase on 24h peak players. Europa Universallis expansion has lost many new players this week while Crusaders Kings III expansion not so many ( its expansion did not increase as much players as EUIV though ). We should expect an increase of total players next week when HOIV expansion releases.

I:R remains stable at around 600 players.

 

[Chaostrian]

Look only on those 2 picture you can see that Imperator is better because this game needs his own Diagramm and dont need to share it with other titles xD

 

[IsaacCAT]

Look only on those 2 picture you can see that Imperator is better because this game needs his own Diagramm and dont need to share it with other titles xD

We only need to change the vertical axis to log scale and we can clearly see I:R in red with the other titles, right in the center of the spotlight:

 

[Chaostrian]

It still hurts and its hard to believe that they abandoned this game...

and on this picture you can see that this game is in the middle of everything so it cant be so bad

 

[IsaacCAT]

It still hurts and its hard to believe that they abandoned this game...

and on this picture you can see that this game is in the middle of everything so it cant be so bad

Yes, compared to all labeled GSG, it is in the top middle of the table.

However, compared to the other actively developed PDS games is 50 times less played.

 

[CrackingShow]

I'm surprised by how few GSG gamers there are. Only 300k! We're in a niche of a niche lol.

 

[XSamatan]

I'd guess you could easily triple that amount if one includes all people playing not on Steam and, those playing in Offline Mode on Steam.

It sadly doesn't change the fact of I:R having a small playerbase

Regards
XSamatan

 

[IsaacCAT]

Good morning, and congratulations to PDX, at least today, one day after the release of HOI IV expansion Blood Alone, the top spot of the GSG is for them:



The increase of players of HOIV is fantastic with 27,000 more players than yesterday before the release. The impact on other PDX games is felt in CK3 and Stellaris that have lost 1k players each and EU IV that has lost 2k.

The overall players for GSG has also increased to 322.661 players. I have updated the OP chart. There is an upward trend, albeit very soft. We will see if the new 22,000 players are here to stay. I am also eager to see how Victoria 3 next month impacts the total numbers of GSG players.

I:R remains stable at 572 players.

 

[IsaacCAT]

As every Wednesday, I have updated the steam DB Grand strategy 24h Peak players. This week we have 294,949 players. We have lost the boost of last week of players and we are back to the Wednesday average numbers of 300,000 GSG 24h Peak Players.

The chart for the most significative games shows a big decline in HOIV players after one week, although the numbers are still up compared before the latest expansion. The decline of total players is due to the steady loss of Total War: Warhammer III players. There is not a new game that gets back the 30,000 players from that game. Terra Invicta has got some publicity latelty but only can muster 8,000 24h Peak Players on Wednesdays.



I:R remains stable at 574 24h Peak Players on Wednesdays 11 CEST time.

 

[IsaacCAT]

I have updated the chart today instead of Wednesday. Total GSG 24h Peak Players remain stable around 300,000 (281,004 players today).

All seven most played GSG decrease their 24h Peak Players:



I:R remains stable at 575 24 Peak Players this Thursday 11 CEST time.

 

[Kimlin1004]

Well I started playing again so that should bring the total up to 576

 

[IsaacCAT]

This is the last week before the release of Victoria 3. Total GSG 24h Peak players is 281,937. This confirms last week point 5% under the average of 300,000.

The seven most played GSG remain the same without significative varitions from last week. Because I plot this update every Wednesday and Victoria 3 will release on Tuesday 25th of October, I expect a big increase of players back to the 315,017 24h Peak Players on the 31/08/2022.



I:R has 566 24h Peak Players, a bit less than last week (575), although players like @Kimlin1004 are back playing the game.

 

[Victor1234]

Thanks @IsaacCAT for sharing these, it's certainly interesting.

 

[Saladin87]

However, compared to the other actively developed PDS games is 50 times less played.

If development was continued, the numbers could easily have been reinforced. The last expansion and update took the game to a whole new level which is still more impressive than most other PDX titles.

 

[Chaostrian]

If development was continued, the numbers could easily have been reinforced. The last expansion and update took the game to a whole new level which is still more impressive than most other PDX titles.

That's one of the things I've been thinking about too. The number of players is really not the problem, I mean you can see as soon as an update came out they have increased again the problem is you have to keep them but promise "yes we will stop the development for this year" and then a year later still no real one Statement is just weak and so you don't keep any player numbers to be exact you just lose more

The game hasn't seen an update for almost 2 years, neither content nor bugfix and still an average of 500 - 600 players play it and on the weekend the number on Steam even goes up to 800 if things go well

I know these numbers don't mean much for PDX due to their size etc. but that's still a number of players to relate to

I wish with actually even if it will not happen that PDX simply waited 2 years to try a "reopening" of Imperator after the in my opinion rather less failed attempts to improve the game to be exact the game is even better than that other games that have many more years of development under their belt