Jester David
Hero
I tried to get a friend into the game. They tried it for a few minutes and were really put off my the controls and gameplay. The free weekend didn't help much.
Sword Coast Legends free to play for the weekend on Steam
- Thread starter SkidAce
- Start date
Corpsetaker
First Post
Free weekend wasn't such a good idea because now the Steam rating is at 50%.
Corpsetaker
First Post
Doesn't matter how many people played because now those are ones who have added even more negative feedback which has dropped the rating to being worse than ever. If there was no free weekend then those people wouldn't have bothered and the rating would have remained higher.
They didn't succeed at anything except getting worse reviews.
darjr
I crit!
Actually maybe all they want is folks talking about it. To be part of the buzz for Christmas and their impending console release. The folks that stay will be fans and help boost the initial population of available gamers for the console release. Given that a mediocre review has probably done most of its damage already maybe the hope is to have enough enthusiastic players to give new console users a selection of team mates.
Cergorach
The Laughing One
Two months after release a 50% discount is pretty bad imho. It's a huge discount so short after release. That doesn't bode well...
I'm reading a lot of comments of folks who couldn't install the game over the free weekend.
At this point I think every sale, even if it means a worse review rating, is necessary for the publisher.
I'm reading a lot of comments of folks who couldn't install the game over the free weekend.
At this point I think every sale, even if it means a worse review rating, is necessary for the publisher.
The free weekend was a sort of a double-edged sword it looks like. Ownership of the game shot up 50% over this weekend. Actual players increased by 100%! Unfortunately, the new people largely disliked the game and so the rating has dropped from 57% to 51% in just three days.
Now, all that said? N-Space and SCL mostly benefited from this sale, I think. At this point the reputation of the game is somewhat sealed. If 57% wasn't going to scare you away then 51% probably isn't that much more of a disincentive. This is not to say that the people they picked up this weekend aren't picky. Obviously, a lot of them weren't perfectly happy with their purchase or the approval rating wouldn't have been dented so significantly. But the players you get three months into release for $20 probably have far more mitigated expectations.
Now the good news for SCL: This weekend the consecutive player count went up about 500%! The game hasn't had user numbers like that since the release date, but after that first weekend player participation steadily decayed. (Heck, it's almost a textbook example of mathematical model with exponential decay with sinusoidal dampening.) Of course, it's hard to argue with play for free, and only time will tell if these new players actually stick around. The next couple of weekends are holidays so it's probably going to take a month to determine how many of these players actually paid and will come back.
Likely, this sale and free-play promotion was a marketing push to maximize their participation rates for when Rage of Demons launches in the near future. The free players and the new players who haven't been scared off immediately are keeping the game interesting for those few die-hard fans that otherwise might haven no one else to play with and give up on the game. Thus the game stays alive long enough for the first expansion to launch. You can expect that SCL will go on sale or be bundled again when that DLC eventually drops, and the player numbers should spike again in a similar manner when that happens. The only uncertainty is how fast the player base will decay after that.
Now, all that said? N-Space and SCL mostly benefited from this sale, I think. At this point the reputation of the game is somewhat sealed. If 57% wasn't going to scare you away then 51% probably isn't that much more of a disincentive. This is not to say that the people they picked up this weekend aren't picky. Obviously, a lot of them weren't perfectly happy with their purchase or the approval rating wouldn't have been dented so significantly. But the players you get three months into release for $20 probably have far more mitigated expectations.
Now the good news for SCL: This weekend the consecutive player count went up about 500%! The game hasn't had user numbers like that since the release date, but after that first weekend player participation steadily decayed. (Heck, it's almost a textbook example of mathematical model with exponential decay with sinusoidal dampening.) Of course, it's hard to argue with play for free, and only time will tell if these new players actually stick around. The next couple of weekends are holidays so it's probably going to take a month to determine how many of these players actually paid and will come back.
Likely, this sale and free-play promotion was a marketing push to maximize their participation rates for when Rage of Demons launches in the near future. The free players and the new players who haven't been scared off immediately are keeping the game interesting for those few die-hard fans that otherwise might haven no one else to play with and give up on the game. Thus the game stays alive long enough for the first expansion to launch. You can expect that SCL will go on sale or be bundled again when that DLC eventually drops, and the player numbers should spike again in a similar manner when that happens. The only uncertainty is how fast the player base will decay after that.
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