Oh I'm aware of the necessity for a reliable playerbase for this and a lot of other kinds of multiplayer games. I never tried to claim that the competition was especially strong, just that it "technically" existed.
I get your point though. A population-less game isn't exactly anywhere close to resembling any kind of existing competition, not in actuality anyway. And it certainly doesn't mean squat as far as potential sales go.
I must admit, I have trouble understanding why so many small studios try for the multiplayer only scene. There's not exactly a high range of success to be had, and the fruits of your labor are almost guaranteed to fade into the ether within 1-5 years, and that's being optimistic.
There's obviously the cash grab reasoning, but I suspect that this is becoming increasingly less effective as gamers have wizened up at least a little bit after getting burned over and over so many times. Probably why they've been resorting to connecting with cult classics and franchise, since the only way to get past skeptical gamers is to lure them in with some enticing marketing.
I must admit, I have trouble understanding why so many small studios try for the multiplayer only scene.
Highest potential with the lowest effort.
A multiplayer only game might only need 6~ maps on launch and maybe 12 unique models. Compared to a single player one which will need double to triple that just to be a short game. And unlike single player games, you are expected to continue support later instead of needing to finish the game entirely before you start selling (meaning launching unfinished is less obvious).
So while you need to be able to give constant support and balance patches going forward, that's basically a trickle compared to the bucket that is non-multiplayer game making in terms of a lot of work done.
Of course its nowhere near that simple, but you can see the motivation.
That's with the potential for your game to take off and become a huge hit virally. Something that happens a lot with multiplayer games (all it takes is one Streamer really), but is really hard to pull off with a single player one.
Oh I'm aware of the necessity for a reliable playerbase for this and a lot of other kinds of multiplayer games. I never tried to claim that the competition was especially strong, just that it "technically" existed.
I get your point though. A population-less game isn't exactly anywhere close to resembling any kind of existing competition, not in actuality anyway. And it certainly doesn't mean squat as far as potential sales go.
I must admit, I have trouble understanding why so many small studios try for the multiplayer only scene. There's not exactly a high range of success to be had, and the fruits of your labor are almost guaranteed to fade into the ether within 1-5 years, and that's being optimistic.
There's obviously the cash grab reasoning, but I suspect that this is becoming increasingly less effective as gamers have wizened up at least a little bit after getting burned over and over so many times. Probably why they've been resorting to connecting with cult classics and franchise, since the only way to get past skeptical gamers is to lure them in with some enticing marketing.
Highest potential with the lowest effort.
A multiplayer only game might only need 6~ maps on launch and maybe 12 unique models. Compared to a single player one which will need double to triple that just to be a short game. And unlike single player games, you are expected to continue support later instead of needing to finish the game entirely before you start selling (meaning launching unfinished is less obvious).
So while you need to be able to give constant support and balance patches going forward, that's basically a trickle compared to the bucket that is non-multiplayer game making in terms of a lot of work done.
Of course its nowhere near that simple, but you can see the motivation.
That's with the potential for your game to take off and become a huge hit virally. Something that happens a lot with multiplayer games (all it takes is one Streamer really), but is really hard to pull off with a single player one.