Season 8 v/s season 7 (according to Steam player count) | Spoiler: looks good so far đź‘€

PC General Discussion
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First of all, it’s important to note that the number of players seen on Steam isn’t the total number of players and is only a small fraction of the community. However, it’s a good reference for determining whether there are more or fewer players when a patch is released.

I would also like to point out that we were discussing this in another thread, BUT it was off-topic and I think it deserves its own thread.

So… When we analyze the number of players on Steam during any Diablo 4 patch, we find that the highest peak of players occurs on Sundays.

I’m posting this on a Thursday, but not just any Thursday. May 1st is a holiday in much of the world, so some fluctuations in the data are to be expected.

That said, and given that it’s not even Sunday yet:

Let’s take a day-by-day look.

The first Tuesday of Season 7 saw a peak of 15,975 players, while the first Tuesday of Season 8 saw a peak of 18,820.

To summarize:

Tuesday S7: 15,975
Tuesday S8: 18,820

And this is what the next few days look like:

Wednesday S7: 24,239
Wednesday S8: 31,425

Thursday S7: 24,146
Thursday S8: 35,201

We can see a consistent gap between Season 7 and Season 8, which increases on Thursday. While I personally believe Thursday’s gap is due to the holidays, the other days indicate a fairly clear trend.

However, we’ll have to wait until Sunday to see the real difference between S7 and S8.

Friday S7: 27,654
Friday S8: 34,641

Saturday S7: 34,472
Saturday S8: 35,768

Sunday S7: 37,344
Sunday S8: 37,560

Source: https://steamdb.info/app/2344520/charts/

NOTE: This doesn’t prove that the season is better, just that there was more interest in trying it.

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Thanks for the information but it is still like using statistics to determine what is “normal”.

Example: Statistically right-handed is a vast majority and considered “normal”… However, I am left handed and consider the vast majority abnormal… :rofl:

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You can’t say it’s normal, but you can say that a person is more likely to be right-handed than south-handed.

It’s a trend, not a rule. Exceptions are expected, but they are not common.

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Thanks for provinding nothing. No one plays on steam and blizz doesnt provide metrics.

Junk data is junk data used for people looking for confirmation bias.

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This is 100% spot on. However, not how the majority think. Guess that makes us both the “exception” on this.

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most of them are bots.

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It’s like a survey… it’s not necessarily correct, but it shows a trend.

It’s interesting, to say the least.

What it shows is that Blizzard did a better job promoting the season, or that there were higher expectations.

It doesn’t prove it’s better. The retention after the peak is what could indicate a better season.

Ironically, exceptions are “normal” in these cases. Trends tend to be “messy”.

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What were POE2 steam numbers during the same period?
What were last years numbers for the same period?

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It just show a trend of incomplete junk data. Its satire without knowing the full picture.

I do wish blizz continued to release global and individual stats like they use too. I had fun with those but I assume they dont because every season has become shorter but just my opinion.

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It’s not relevant… but I think they’re 57,555, 54,338, and 56,554 (this week, same day, same time/hour… Although the peaks are different, as they occur at different times). (Note that I could be wrong, I didn’t pay much attention to it because it’s not relevant.)

As far as I know, POE2 isn’t just on Steam, so the same rules apply.

Although I suppose POE2 has a higher percentage of players on Steam than on its own platform (unlike Blizzard). This alone makes any comparison impossible, and therefore, irrelevant.

POE2 was not available “years” ago.

Now, if we’re talking about Diablo 4 a year ago, I think the data isn’t good, since we’re talking about a year of new users on Steam (and therefore, an increase in the percentage of users relative to the total across all platforms).

That is, this year’s numbers compared to last year should be inflated.

Now, the numbers for Season 4 are 14,807, 24,122, 25,043, 24,952, 28,364, and 29,035. (First Tuesday to Sunday of season 4)

As I said, I don’t think it’s good to use these numbers to draw conclusions, since they should represent different percentages of the community.

For example, if Steam represented 10% of Diablo 4 players last year and they represent 20% this year, then we would need to multiply last year’s numbers by 2 or divide this year’s by two to get a good comparison.

Unfortunately, we don’t know what percentage they represent.

This should also affect the comparison of S7 and S8, but the effect is obviously much smaller, to the point where I THINK it should be negligible.

I could be wrong tho, but I’m pretty sure that: if anyone criticizes this it won’t be because they thought of it, but because they read this :sweat_smile:

(Obviously, all of this is only possible if more users buy on Steam than on Battlenet… which I think is totally happening.)

To be honest, I think it’s high-quality data, but it’s almost never interpreted correctly.

In other words, this good data is used in “junk” arguments.

Look closely. I’m not drawing exaggerated conclusions from this information, and I’m highlighting the problems it presents.

You’re acting like I’m saying this is the best/worse season yet. I’m not.

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Steam is a service and will provide what they want you to see. I wouldn’t put much faith in their numbers. Taking advantage of the new season to make a few sales.

Aside from that let’s see what they say in a few weeks. :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

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oh, actually was wondering when this would come up again, since that other dude didnt update on this lol. ive been there with you in that other thread as well.

not like it matters tho.

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The season burnout will be much faster this time.

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That data is definitely interesting too, as it demonstrates retention and whether the season was truly enjoyable or not.

At the moment, the few numbers we have only show interest (or marketing quality) and not the quality of the game/season.

For now, that’s what the feedback shows, but we still don’t know how it’s going to play out. The devs can always make adjustments, and if I remember correctly, the first few weeks are going to be dedicated to just that.

I remember that Season 3 or 4 (the one with the traps) was “saved” by one of these updates.

Oh, and I just remembered… the data is going to be contaminated by Guts (May 6)… what a shame…

BTW, Today, Friday, the peak decreased slightly (although it’s still higher than in season 7).
I suppose this is because yesterday’s data was actually inflated because it was May 1st (as I suggested).

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They slowed the game down, a lot. Of course people are going to stick around longer, being everything takes longer. Once the rinse/repeat starts you’ll see these numbers plummet. This game still has no identity.

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So many more players playing huh. Shame I can’t ever seem to find any. The world is empty af (at least when I’m online through my day). I’ve legit not seen another player since the first 20 minutes of playing on the first day.

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But at the same time, people get angrier and are more likely to quit playing.

So it can backfire.

They could be Korean or Japanese players (for example) playing on other servers or at different times. Steam doesn’t discriminate between countries.

:man_shrugging:

(And I really can’t complain about playing alone… it’s beautiful.)

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For the type of players who play on steam. In my experience they are a very different bunch from us stand alone client players. This is a thing on poe too.

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Absolutely true. I doubt there’s a Diablo fan who waited for it to be released on Steam before buying it.

But that’s a good thing. Because it means Steam is showing regular players, not “HC” players.

For me, that’s ideal data. Hardcore fans will play no matter what, while average players won’t.

It’s like… an unbiased sample of players.