What are the plans to boost player count?

[InsightKnight 1]

Hello,

So I have been asking a few players about the current alpha test and I am somewhat confused. I see that there looks to be well over 1k backers/alpha key users but I have never seen more than 12 people online at any one time. I spoke to one player who was explaining how the alpha is just very selective and I was lucky enough to gain access. The idea being that all of those people in Discord do not have a key and are just waiting to play. But then I backed the game and realized that you do not even have to back to get the weekly access. Anyone with an alpha key can just open the game and play. So then that means that it has nothing to do with exclusivity and that this is the actual current player count. So with that knowledge are there any plans or concepts to help gain a player base for this game?

The core design is very solid even if it's nothing new. With more content & weapon/NPC variations I do think this could be a replacement for games like NewZ or DayZ as far as PvP clan based territory wars. I am just concerned that we are going to drop into Early Access and basically already have all of the backers that were here before with no major change to the player counts. Getting some active streamers can help a bit but it only goes so far. Why are there not more concurrent players and what is missing that keeps them from playing? I know the wipes can turn some people off even though it is necessary for testing. Others just do not enjoy farming bots. What are the communities opinions on this and what would you like to see changed to help grow the player counts?

This is not a thread about money spent by the way. I think the game even in it's current state is worth $20 compared to most of the competition out there.

[Joshua 498]

So there's some things to consider regarding player count.

 

1. The game is heavily focused on the Global Inventory and other progression systems - so players are not wanting to invest a lot of time in getting items and grinding if it will be wiped
2. Many Open Alpha players don't actually know they can play during the week - the main objective of the open alpha is to concentrate them around the alpha weeks, so players can see what the game is like with a 40/40 server etc.
3. They don't want to over-play early and get burnt out by playing too much - being surprised by all the new features at early access is what some players are wanting
4. Marketing - while we are doing some marketing, most of the game's growth has been through organic word of mouth and running minimal ads. The invitational open alpha has put the game in front of thousands of new faces

 

We are working on our Early Access marketing plan very soon - which will include making a new trailer etc.

 

We're pleased with the current growth of the game which has been mostly word of mouth.

 

Cheers

[InsightKnight 1]

Thank you for the detailed response.