Arc Raiders and Marathon aren't "dead" just because their concurrent player count has dropped, Palworld lead says – but he's "not denying that some games do 'die'"

No, games aren't "dead" just because their concurrent user number has dropped over time – at least, that's what Palworld global community manager and Pocketpair Publishing boss John "Bucky" Buckley says.

Speaking in response to an online user who jokes that, and I quote, "Marathon is dead, Arc Raiders is dead," and, of course, "extraction games are dead" as a whole, Bucky states as much. "Just a thought but," he writes. "Do many fundamentally misunderstand what CCU [concurrent users] means?"

He continues, explaining that seeing 5,000 users at a certain time and then later on does "not necessarily mean the same 5,000 people are playing."

Some might have logged off, while others logged on instead. "This is why DAU [daily active users] and MAU [monthly active users], the tracking of 'unique players' over a period of time, is significantly more important," Bucky says. "If you played a 5v5 game for three hrs straight with a DAU of 5,000, 30-min rounds, then you would only meet 1% of players."

That's why you can't just declare a game "dead" if its concurrent user count drops at a point.

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"Yes, we want games to have millions and billions of people playing, but there comes a point where games are prematurely being called 'dead' because it just gets the views," as the Pocketpair dev describes.

"Most games can chug along with a few thousand players every day and be just fine. Some of the BEST PvP games you've never heard of have been going for years like this (See: Foxhole)."

Well, he's not wrong. A quick look over at SteamDB shows that Foxhole only has 1,941 players currently, but a positive reception overall.

This sort of conversation – deeming games "dead" – is "just as tiring as it was when it started," as Bucky puts it. "One side of the room is bad actors just throwing out Steam charts to make silly points, and the other side are just fans who are worried that the game they love is on the way out."

That's not to say some titles don't die. Heck, just look at the whole Stop Killing Games debacle underway right now, the Concord shutdown, and so on – and Bucky is well-aware of it all.

"I'm not denying that some games do 'die.' Some games DO die," admits the community lead. "We've seen a few high-profile live service games come and go in the blink of an eye over the last few years, but it's a rare case. That's a fact."

After all, "There's thousands of games a year, and to blow the 'DEAD GAME' horn at them all is disingenuous."

Bucky concludes, "I'm not trying to defend these cases, I'm just trying to say that a more nuanced take on what concurrent vs unique active players is needed. Not every game needs an hourly look at Steam charts. Just a thought!"

I mean, I do understand where he's coming from. Folks love to shout about games being dead… even if they're not.

This isn't a shooter-exclusive situation, either. As a big cozy gamer myself, I see it all the time with games like The Sims 4. Titles like inZOI spring to mind immediately, even if developers continue their work and fans consistently enjoy updates. It's a tough reality that spans all genres, I'd say, even if games don't deserve that sort of commotion online. Here's hoping more people grow to understand Bucky's words, too.

"Gamers don't want it": Palworld lead says Pocketpair doesn't touch AI because players hate it and artists "like doing stuff themselves."

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