If you're unhappy with this game then unsub... forever.

[RitsukoSonoda]

A lot of people will say one thing while doing another. That why they tend to rely on metrics. What people are actually doing affects a company's bottom line a lot more than what they're only saying.

They're not going to listen to feedback unless their metrics show their customers are behaving in ways they did not expect.

The actual problem is they often don't look into it any further than seeing the numbers on the spreadsheet. So they essentially have no actual context of what the numbers actually mean or what lead those numbers to actually be generated. They just go through it to make sure the boxes they want bigger numbers in show bigger numbers and the boxes they want smaller numbers in show smaller numbers. Any outliers to what they want will simply result on looking for a scapegoat or excuse.

[Jojoya]

The actual problem is they often don't look into it any further than seeing the numbers on the spreadsheet. So they essentially have no actual context of what the numbers actually mean or what lead those numbers to actually be generated. They just go through it to make sure the boxes they want bigger numbers in show bigger numbers and the boxes they want smaller numbers in show smaller numbers. Any outliers to what they want will simply result on looking for a scapegoat or excuse.

You might be thinking of it too simply. They're going to look at past trends at similar points in a development cycle. Some deviation is expected of course but only in small amounts.

If normally they would have 30% of the player base participating in Savage raiding during a certain patch cycle but that number has dropped to 10%, they're going to want to know why that content has lost 2/3s of its normal participants. That's when they're going to start checking feedback. If it's only dropped from 30% to 27%, then they they don't have much reason to care.

[Myrany]

You might be thinking of it too simply. They're going to look at past trends at similar points in a development cycle. Some deviation is expected of course but only in small amounts.

If normally they would have 30% of the player base participating in Savage raiding during a certain patch cycle but that number has dropped to 10%, they're going to want to know why that content has lost 2/3s of its normal participants. That's when they're going to start checking feedback. If it's only dropped from 30% to 27%, then they they don't have much reason to care.

I have always suspected with most games it is a combination of what you are saying and the following.

What demographic of player makes us the most money?
<checks data>
Ok how many players can we expect to lose if we make x change to cater to that demographic?
<checks historical data>
Do we have enough new players coming in to cover the loss?
<checks data>

here it can slide into What will sell well in the store to make up the loss or even increase revenue?
<checks data>


In short if changes are not happening there is not enough lost revenue to justify them.

[Snorky]

I have always suspected with most games it is a combination of what you are saying and the following.

What demographic of player makes us the most money?
<checks data>
Ok how many players can we expect to lose if we make x change to cater to that demographic?
<checks historical data>
Do we have enough new players coming in to cover the loss?
<checks data>

here it can slide into What will sell well in the store to make up the loss or even increase revenue?
<checks data>


In short if changes are not happening there is not enough lost revenue to justify them.

I suspect along with the satisical data, creative ideas are then added. It can not be anyone thing with games that drive the process. I am sure many games have been ruined by just one set of data points being listened to (wildstar) for one. This thread kinda goes along with another topic on this forum. The harder content topic. There has to be a balance of the pendulum swings to far in anyone direction it will lose subs. But and there is a but, if the loss of subs in anyone direction isn't that great and can be made up expect the path of least cost to be taken. It's a business after all.

I just wanted to add I remember during the pandemic when cbu3 was in lock down something along the lines of they have 2 years worth of content already done waiting to be implemented, please don't quote me on it but it was something along the lines of the content is made just waiting for all the teams to finalize it. I could be totally mis remembering.