Number of Servers at Launch?

[NCLynx]

Have the devs said anything about max # of people per server? I did a quick search but everything that came up was from 2003.

Also I'd like to know everyones guess on how many servers there may be.

There were 5 total (IIRC there were 6 in beta, but 2 were combined to become one Werner) in the original, then brought down to 3 still pretty early on.

Seeing as how a lot more people have interest in and have the ability to play PS2, I think there'll be a minimum of 4 servers for beta at least and 7 on release.
(Not taking into account the The9 servers either)

[DOUBLEXBAUGH]

With current numbers of 666 per side per cont, and ONLY 3 conts at launch, that is a max of 6k online per server at a time. So, servers should cap somewhere around 9k players. That seems like it needs to be well above 7 servers.

[Atheosim]

Yeah, what I'm concerned about is the fact that there are no longer sanctuaries, therefore simply logging in takes up pop on a cont. That's worrying because of what DxB said: If all three conts are locked, so is the server. Hmmm...

[Zulthus]

We're going to need a lot of servers. A lot.

[Vancha]

This is something I've been wondering for a while and I've avoided mentioning it because I feel I must be missing something obvious...

If the population cap is 666v666v666 and there's 3 maps in total, then should PS2 hit a million players (and I don't see that being entirely unlikely), they'll need at least 167 servers.

Edit: Of course, not everyone plays at once...but even then, you could be looking at 100+

[Gogita]

Wasnt it supposed to be around a 1000 max per continent in PS2? So that would mean at most 3000 people that can be playing simultaneously.... But the maximum amount of players per server can be higher than that, as not everyone is online at the same time. Maybe.... 10k max per server? I'm not so sure how the dynamics work here...

I wonder what the number of initial players SOE is expecting.

[Mechzz]

Looks like we need a bigger boat server farm.

[Atheosim]

Looks we need a bigger boat server farm.

Looks more to me like we need sanctuaries.

[Zulthus]

Looks more to me like we need sanctuaries.

+1

[NCLynx]

I ask because with a game like planetside I'd much rather have a server be to crowded than be on a server with a consistent low pop.

[Shogun]

i´m sure they will scale up the number of servers on demand.
it would be fatal if all servers are locked and people can´t play at all.

and my guess is, that every new continent will add another 2k to the servers capacity. so they could stockpile finished continents and release them when the servers start to gwt too full.

i´m a little worried about locked servers because it would suck to have bought a ton of cool stuff on one server and eventually not being able to access it because the server is full. starting on other servers without your stuff, certs and outfit mates isn´t particulary fun.

[NCLynx]

i´m sure they will scale up the number of servers on demand.
it would be fatal if all servers are locked and people can´t play at all.

and my guess is, that every new continent will add another 2k to the servers capacity. so they could stockpile finished continents and release them when the servers start to gwt too full.

i´m a little worried about locked servers because it would suck to have bought a ton of cool stuff on one server and eventually not being able to access it because the server is full. starting on other servers without your stuff, certs and outfit mates isn´t particulary fun.

Is it confirmed that we make characters on a server as opposed to making a character and then choosing a server to login to? Cause that would be a possibility too. Although I'm not as much of a fan of that one.

[CrystalViolet]

In terms of max players per server, it's probably something we won't know until well into beta. The devs probably have ways to test this, but real world data is probably required to fine tune the numbers.

As for number of servers. Who knows. If PS2 attracts a player base similar to CoD or Wow, they could end up needing dozens.

[Gogita]

i´m sure they will scale up the number of servers on demand.


One of the bigger fears I have is that the number of servers that are present at the release of the game will be too little, because it was underestimated how many players will play. While SOE can increase the number of servers, queues, long waiting lines and lag can ruin the initial experience for new players, something that also happened when SWTOR came out.

Increasing the number of servers is not something that a gaming company can do instantly, so they need to get it right from the beginning on so the first playerbase won't have any troubles logging in and playing.

[ringring]

The best solution will be more continents (I've been banging that drum for a while).

I wonder how long a continent takes to make?

[NCLynx]

The best solution will be more continents (I've been banging that drum for a while).

I wonder how long a continent takes to make?

As additional continents are released is when we may see server merges. (Maybe)

[CrystalViolet]

The best solution will be more continents (I've been banging that drum for a while).

I wonder how long a continent takes to make?

I seem to remember Smed saying they'd like to eventually have "thousands of worlds". Obviously that's a long term goal though.

[Atheosim]

I seem to remember Smed saying they'd like to eventually have "thousands of worlds". Obviously that's a long term goal though.

"thousands of worlds"? The fuck does that mean?

[Gonefshn]

Server mergers can mark the slow downfall of these games. But with PS2 just like PS1 they will be even more necessary than in an MMORPG if pops are low. Doesn't make as big of a difference in an MMORPG if there are less people but in PS2 the population is literally the game itself.

[Shamrock]

I think this must be a real headache to get right, probably aim for a set figure but have some contingencies to bring more capacity online fast if the initial figure turns out to be an under estimate. Even the best can screw it up as Blizzard so aptly demonstrated with the Launch of Diablo 3 being a total clusterfuck with inadequate capacity at launch.

[NCLynx]

Server mergers can mark the slow downfall of these games. But with PS2 just like PS1 they will be even more necessary than in an MMORPG if pops are low. Doesn't make as big of a difference in an MMORPG if there are less people but in PS2 the population is literally the game itself.

Then lets hope F2P was a smart decision. TF2 is still the most played game on Steam with a consistent 50k or so people. I realize all of that is instanced but I would hope we see the same results.

[Sturmhardt]

I see the "666 per faction" number pop up a lot, is any of that confirmed as planned?

Still... whatever is planned, I go with CViolet: We wont know how many players REALLY work until beta.

[Thomas]

I wouldn't want SOE to have a Diablo 3-esque server crash on launch day that ruins its reputation...

[CrystalViolet]

"thousands of worlds"? The fuck does that mean?

means they intend to make planetside into galaxyside some day.

[ringring]

I see the "666 per faction" number pop up a lot, is any of that confirmed as planned?

Still... whatever is planned, I go with CViolet: We wont know how many players REALLY work until beta.

AFAIK it is not confirmed it is an expectation, hopefully an expectation at the low end.

[Shogun]

too many big titles had too low capacity at launch! our devs are smart, and have been looking at a lot of games, so i hope they know about this danger. it´s true, even the best studios have failed lately with this issue. it´s the chance for soe to rise and shine again, or continue on their track of bad decisions that have ruined their reputation.

let´s hope for the best! a f2p aaa release is the ultimate server-stresstest. now it´s time for a dev to give a single-picture-meme answer ;)

[Xyntech]

With current numbers of 666 per side per cont, and ONLY 3 conts at launch, that is a max of 6k online per server at a time. So, servers should cap somewhere around 9k players. That seems like it needs to be well above 7 servers.

Let's not forget that Planetside only allowed for 166 per side per continent, spread over 10 continents. That's only 5000k per server.

Of course, hopefully Planetside 2 is a lot bigger than Planetside was, so yeah. It's going to need quite a few servers.

[KTNApollo]

We're going to need a lot of servers. A lot.

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/007/044/ALOT.png

[Hyiero]

I swear I've read that it will be allowed 2k players per Continent with 6k per server,I'll look and see where I heard/read this.I'm sure they will do an open beta and get a good idea how many servers they will need at launch,they will probably go over instead of under on servers but I'm sure there goal is to have atleast most servers and 2/3rd's full at launch. As someone said, the population is directly related to the amount of fun you can have in PS2.

[kaffis]

With current numbers of 666 per side per cont, and ONLY 3 conts at launch, that is a max of 6k online per server at a time. So, servers should cap somewhere around 9k players. That seems like it needs to be well above 7 servers.
Wow. Are you seriously suggesting that servers approach a concurrent user-count 66% of the total player accounts?

That's wildly.. I won't even say optimistic, that's just outright delusional. If the game was made up of nothing but unemployed die-hards who sleep 7 hours a day and take bathroom breaks, but play literally 7 days a week all the rest of the day, those are the kind of numbers you would reach.

Don't sweat it, though. Sony has half a dozen games' worth of historical data to extrapolate concurrency estimations from. When it comes to predicting server load, they're probably the most experienced company out there, simply due to raw number of launches and raw amount of data across a variety of games.

Yes, 6k concurrent players per server -- at launch. Additional continents in the future will offer more headroom to grow into. I'm not going to insult Sony or waste the readers' time making wild speculations about what that means for total accounts per server. I'll leave that to Sony.

As has been mentioned above (and as I've pulled stats in the past on similar threads), perusing Steam can get you a good idea of concurrent users of FPS at various prime-times. I'd be surprised to see Sony open up more than a twenty-ish servers world-wide (that would imply peak populations matching the combined playerbase of Counter-Strike Source and Team Fortress 2, IIRC); I think it'll be fair to consider the game a smashing success if it can support 4-8 consistently full-ish servers night to night.

[Mastachief]

100 servers

Cap the server at 6k people, as you should never have to queue to join the server to play with your outfit. All 3 continents do not have to be full remember.

[Zulthus]

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/007/044/ALOT.png

Yup.

[capiqu]

The best solution will be more continents (I've been banging that drum for a while).

I wonder how long a continent takes to make?

Would be nice to have a 2 hemisphere world. One side with the maps of the 10 original Planetside continents but with updated graphics and the second hemisphere for the new continents created and those to be created. That's a lot of real estate but with the large populations expected it might be needed.

[Marsgrim]

I'm sure there's been some thought and strategising by SOE on this, any chance you guys want to give us an idea of the number of servers at launch?

Given the E3 exposure, there's no way that it can launch with so few servers as the original PS. If we've got 3 conts at start capped at 6000 players per server active (based on 2000 a cont) then 30 servers would only give capacity for 180,000 players. I am guessing projections for player numbers are probably well above that at the moment. What are you guys planning for at launch, and has E3 impacted that?

I am sure you don't want to be in the situation Diablo3 was in where people couldn't play the game at launch due to the server capacity.

Not only that, as F2P it means a huge number of Client downloads!

Also, what are the chances of Veterans being able to reserve slots on some servers? If you recreated the old PS server names would we be able to reserve or get priority access to log into Werner (the best obviously!), Konrad, Emerald, Markov, Johari and even Gemini?

And just following up on this, naming 100 odd servers could be quite difficult - the science team and backstory guys better start thinking! :D

[Rago]

Hmm i also asked about that via Twitter, got no Answer about this stuff ;)
Glad you are Asking :)

[Xaine]

I will help name the servers. I'm a nice guy like that.

[Sledgecrushr]

Im sure there is going to be some market research before full release that will help determine how many servers they will need.

[Stew]

More is better than less to prevent a huge crash of the servers like diablo 3 like Bfbc2 release like many others release but since it will be like a beta after thats open beta and so on

i think they can be prepare to the ( launch and be prepare )

i just hope they will make some comercial on the TV and also on youtube etc.. to let people know about the game their is to many people who know nothing about planetside

i always run into so many PC and consoles gamers who dont know it even exist !

[Hamma]

Merged threads. :D

[Marsgrim]

Why does anyone care? The simple answer is "Enough". On this on let SOE do their job, they need no input from us at all.


I would think everyone cares - the Diablo 3 launch was a disaster, and I am not saying SOE will duplicate that - but I think the E3 and media coverage has massively raised the profile of PS2 and possibly beyond that which was originally planned.

I suspect there are serious discussions ongoing at the moment, and I am firstly curious as to what they are now thinking for launch, as that will indicate how many players they believe they will have, and secondly curious on how they will name them!

There's nothing in this but good things for SOE.

[kaffis]

I'm sure there's been some thought and strategising by SOE on this, any chance you guys want to give us an idea of the number of servers at launch?

Given the E3 exposure, there's no way that it can launch with so few servers as the original PS. If we've got 3 conts at start capped at 6000 players per server active (based on 2000 a cont) then 30 servers would only give capacity for 180,000 players. I am guessing projections for player numbers are probably well above that at the moment. What are you guys planning for at launch, and has E3 impacted that?
Your math is funny. First off, note that 2000 players per continent is *online* players per continent. So when you multiply that by 3 continents per server, you get 6000 *online* players per server. We'll use your 30 server guess, as I'm not really bothered about arguing (or even speculating myself) over how many servers SOE is going to release... 30 servers yields 180,000 *online* players...

To put this in perspective, Steam reports that yesterday's peak player count for Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 (that's the 4 most popular multiplayer FPS games on Steam, which account for 4 out of the 6 most popular multiplayer games, period, on Steam) combined was only 10% higher than that (198k)...

Granted, that's for a Monday, but still... I think it's safe to say that's being quite enthusiastically optimistic.

[kaffis]

100 servers

Cap the server at 6k people, as you should never have to queue to join the server to play with your outfit. All 3 continents do not have to be full remember.
This is a terrible suggestion. Capping the number of players at the target online maximum will just result in utter ghost towns. The most wildly successful MMOs at launch don't even maintain 50% concurrent utilization at primetime...

[Top Sgt]

I am sure the beta Numbers will have alot to do with determining the final number for release.

[Marsgrim]

Your math is funny. First off, note that 2000 players per continent is *online* players per continent. So when you multiply that by 3 continents per server, you get 6000 *online* players per server. We'll use your 30 server guess, as I'm not really bothered about arguing (or even speculating myself) over how many servers SOE is going to release... 30 servers yields 180,000 *online* players...

To put this in perspective, Steam reports that yesterday's peak player count for Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 (that's the 4 most popular multiplayer FPS games on Steam, which account for 4 out of the 6 most popular multiplayer games, period, on Steam) combined was only 10% higher than that (198k)...

Granted, that's for a Monday, but still... I think it's safe to say that's being quite enthusiastically optimistic.

I am speaking exclusively of launch - there will be a massive peak demand at launch with everyone initially interested trying it. Due to the F2P model, ther eis no financial committment to buy it for launch, which means everyone aware of the game and keen to play it will be downloading it and expecting to get in game.

Download can be managed via pre-launch download and only active at launch day, but there's still a massive number of players potentially wanting to play.

Look at it this way, there are currently something like 57,000 people who have "Liked" PS2 on Facebook. Now if you assume only 1 in 10 interested people will go to the extent of doing that, you get an idea at the moment of how many people ar epotentially waiting to play.

[kaffis]

Look at it this way, there are currently something like 57,000 people who have "Liked" PS2 on Facebook. Now if you assume only 1 in 10 interested people will go to the extent of doing that, you get an idea at the moment of how many people ar epotentially waiting to play.
Which is fine, but building your server count based on day 1 peak demand is lunacy.

As TopSgt said at the end of the last page, SOE will have beta statistics to combine with its staggering number of MMO launches (I can think of EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies, Planetside, Free Realms, Everquest II, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, Vanguard, Pirates of the Burning Sea, and DC Universe Online off the top of my head... name a company with more launch data than that) and the institutional experience they've garnered from them, as well as the way play habits shake out post-launch... and they'll be way more informed about servers than we are.

In other words, trust the guys whose job it is, and has been for over a decade now.

[Eyeklops]

I think PS2 will easily hit 100~200 thousand concurrent players worldwide when it goes gold. Remember, it's F2P, nobody will be waiting for $$, or parents to buy it for them.

This game has EA/DICE scared. EA is trying to suck the last bit of money out of BF3 as quickly as possible before PS2 releases. Just look at the "Premium" $49.99 offer, they are selling 4 DLC packs at once when only 1 of them is finished. The last DLC doesn't even come out until 2013. As Smed was saying, if you wanted to play BF3 and be sure you can always play with friends its a $99 investment because of DLC maps. $99!!!

[Exmortius]

hopefully johari is back.....that server is home :)

[Meriv]

It is F2p i would go around an active from 500k to 1 m

[QuantumMechanic]

I wonder how long a continent takes to make?

Quite a while apparently. Every single tiny scrap of land is handcrafted by guys like Arclegger. We don't even know if Indar is 100% complete yet, and it seems work on the next continent only started recently.

For comparison, I think the landmasses in PS1 were programatically created based off some US land survey data. And then had the mostly cookie-cutter bases placed on them (which can be done much quicker but the results are less impressive).

[Exmortius]

I think PS2 will easily hit 100~200 thousand concurrent players worldwide when it goes gold. Remember, it's F2P, nobody will be waiting for $$, or parents to buy it for them.

This game has EA/DICE scared. EA is trying to suck the last bit of money out of BF3 as quickly as possible before PS2 releases. Just look at the "Premium" $49.99 offer, they are selling 4 DLC packs at once when only 1 of them is finished. The last DLC doesn't even come out until 2013. As Smed was saying, if you wanted to play BF3 and be sure you can always play with friends its a $99 investment because of DLC maps. $99!!!

ya i am not even wasting my time or money on bf3 anymore now that ps2 beta is looming ever closer. bf3 is going to be trash compared to this seriously.

[kaffis]

I think PS2 will easily hit 100~200 thousand concurrent players worldwide when it goes gold. Remember, it's F2P, nobody will be waiting for $$, or parents to buy it for them.
Sure.. but there are limits on the size of the PC FPS market... it doesn't matter that the game's free, it still won't attract solitaire players.

I just got done pointing out that the top 4 steam FPS games combined account for only 200k concurrent players on a weekday. I don't have numbers for BF3, but if we assume it's roughly equivalent to CODMWF3, we're talking a market that supports 250-300k concurrent players at primetime (granted, on a non-weekend) genre-wide.

PS2 will be doing exceptionally well to capture 1/3-2/3s of the market.

I mean, more power to them if they can, but guys, let's not set preposterous expectations and then run around declaring that the devs have failed when they're not met.

[Meriv]

Sure.. but there are limits on the size of the PC FPS market... it doesn't matter that the game's free, it still won't attract solitaire players.



What you mean for solitaire players?

[p0intman]

means they intend to make planetside into galaxyside some day.

Smed plays EVE.

/tinfoilhattery

And I once asked him about his interests in sandbox style gaming. All he had to say was, 'stay tuned'.

/more tinfoilhattery

[Meriv]

LOL he is just saying no matter how free the game is, it just isn't for some game players, like Solitaire.

Ops a false friend, i thought he refered to players that plays alone.

[kaffis]

What you mean for solitaire players?
Yeah, WildVS had my intention right. I didn't mean PS2 won't attract "solitary" players. I meant that if your grandma thinks of the card game "Solitaire" when you say computer gaming, no matter how awesome PS2 is, an FPS won't appeal to her.

[GuyFawkes]

The best solution will be more continents (I've been banging that drum for a while).

I wonder how long a continent takes to make?

Couldn't agree more. having 6k players on one server , and locked has 3 effects. Firstly, you may not be able to play with your outfit for half the night.Secondly, the full server has a magnet effect and may draw people from other servers to play on the 'in' server, exacerbating any problems with pop on their current server. Thirdly , queues put people off , give bad publicity which frankly soe have had a monopoly with swg / hacking just to name a couple.

Having extra continents increases the size of the world , is a nice pressure valve for peak times without necessarily decreasing the large battle ethos.

Last point, since it has been mentioned by Higby and others that it could be that you have 1 character per account , how will the servers be filled? Is it going to end up like the cross-realm battlegrounds of wow. You join Outfit X on monday , but on tues you log in and are sent to server Dustbucket instead . Wednesday you are on server Barrens chat etc.
This may not be the case , but how would you feel if the only time you could play on your outfits chosen server was 3am on a thursday.

[SgtMAD]

CoD sells 8 million copies,Free Realms has a couple of million players,same with WoT so why would an FPS that is getting great press all over the world not see numbers like that?

it's goddamn free, there are going to be atleast 800k subs and Sky thinks its in the millions so there are going to be one hell of a lot more that "20-ish" servers,hell one hundred might not be enough.

if SOE caps the server pops at 6k then once you manage to log on, you won't be able to move to any other continent until someone else logs off and before a player in que logs on. if the other two empires on a cont wanted to really screw some ppl over,they could push an empire back to the gate and make them rage quit.

PS at release had server locks and it friggin sucked.

at release PS had a dynamic continent poplock, the top empire had 256,then the other two had a percentage of that with the third empire getting basically screwed in the deal, it got change to 256 per side,then nerfed to 166 then 133. during the "Run for the Guns" event is was raised back to 150 per side but those fights were two way ordeals.

[ChargerCarl]

I just got done pointing out that the top 4 steam FPS games combined account for only 200k concurrent players on a weekday. I don't have numbers for BF3, but if we assume it's roughly equivalent to CODMWF3, we're talking a market that supports 250-300k concurrent players at primetime (granted, on a non-weekend) genre-wide.


Skyrim was hitting 200,000 on launch on steam.

[SKYeXile]

yea i dunno about 800k subs, but certainly planetside 2 will see alot of people through the doors. F2P games typically have a high turnover rate and only about 7% of players would pass /10 days played in a year.

these are the current stats for WOT though:

US:
Total Players: 2 203 889
Active players in the past week: 225 348
Players in Clans: 72 115 (3.272%)
Players with more then 1000 games: 155 332 (7.048%)
New players registered in this month: 97 853 (4.44%)
RU:
Total Players: 6 940 259
Active players in the past week: 2 164 599
Players in Clans: 491 851 (7.087%)
Players with more then 1000 games: 1 947 724 (28.064%)
New players registered in this month: 191 305 (2.756%)
EU:
Total Players:3 633 814
Active players in the past week: 626 785
Players in Clans: 165 467 (4.554%)
Players with more then 1000 games: 397 838 (10.948%)
New players registered in this month: 154 904 (4.263%)

thats ALOT of players in the past week. free realms if you dont know had over 10m accounts in around about a year made. Im pretty sure planetside 2 can do that. at launch i think it will need to support atleast 100k online at launch, thats under what BF3 had for PC and its only twice that of TF2 peak players today...how old is TF2 and how longs it been F2P? yea, awhile.

pretty much for a server in an MMO of 6000 you need about 3-5x that amount of active players to fill it constantly. at launch id say more like x2. we're looking at about 15-30 servers at a minimum. its too hard to judge exactly how success this will be, but F2P sure attracts alot of players, you all remember the activity boost during reserves im sure.

[Meriv]

You forgot the peak that is one of the most important stats i know them by memory

RU server :450k
EU :115k
US:30k

Or else you will have a big queque of players during weekends/festivities

[SgtMAD]

I don't think that PS2 will have 800k subs at release but that number is only 10% of the CoD number and this game should easily be able to pull that small a market share of the FPS market,

it will take some time but if the news spreads that the game is as good as everyone wants it to be then it should be easy to get those numbers within three months

[Meriv]

For that reason SKYeXile included growing stats :) that gives a n idea of how F2P grows.

When you mean reach that numbers you mean the 10% of Cod or the 800k refered one?

[Arcticus]

I think the fact that it's an mmofps actually helps things out.

The 3 most important things at release, throughputwise, are credentialing ( login servers), playing server internal resource utilization (CPU, memory, I/o ) and network load.

Credentialing and internal resource utilization are pretty linear. The way servers are virtualized these days makes it easier to add additional worlds. They key here is to have enough in reserve to handle everyone trying to get in at go live.

Network utilization, I believe, would be what normally would have the capability to create a logjam as it is exponential -- for a population of X in any given notifiable area, X (x-1) data is being sent to clients. If 100 players are shooting, for instance, then each of those 100 players' shots need to be notified to the other 99 clients.

I assume that the population cap is based on a near-worst case scenario of having a large chunk of the 2k continental cap fighting it out for the same base/hex.

However, in the beginning, one can assume the land grab would have the continent's pupulation fairly scattered so that most players' events (gunshot, vehicle movement, etc.) would only need to be sent to, say 200 other clients.

If one wants to be conspiratorial, one can imagine the automated (Non-player ) mission creation system being set up to slightly scatter players if the network load is about to be overwhelmed.

Also, if at the very beginning there are few people with command rank, then there's less player-created missions and less squad spawning, so at any given time the average player's events will have less clients that'll need notification.

Additionally, many of the new players would not even be in squads, let alone platoons or legions.

I'm not saying there's no potential for problems...SOE needs to be prepared. I'm only saying that the very nature of planetside 2 may help alleviate network problems at launch.

[SgtMAD]

For that reason SKYeXile included growing stats :) that gives a n idea of how F2P grows.

When you mean reach that numbers you mean the 10% of Cod or the 800k refered one?

its the same number,the last CoD sold approx 8 million copies PS2 should be able to pull that off ,hence the 800K number.

that's 8 million copies of a game that cost $60,why wouldn't a free game draw some of that market?

[kaffis]

The 8 million CoD figures are total for all platforms, though, aren't they?

When I was citing numbers, I was intentionally limiting myself to the PC FPS market. It doesn't matter if an X-Box Halo/CoD/BF3 player thinks Planetside 2 is awesome if he's got a 386 for his email and clan board surfing.

Also, sure, I realize that Skyrim was posting 200k Steam numbers when it launched. But.. it's not an FPS (so the market is different -- some overlap, to be sure, but there's no way for us to gauge how much). I realize that player populations usually peak early in the product lifecycle... however what typically happens is that bored gamers migrate to other games.

That's why I was quoting numbers for MULTIPLE FPS games. Even if the CoDMW3 players got bored of MW3, they probably went back to TF2 or CS:S or whatnot.. because they're FPS gamers, and they want to play FPS games. I don't know a lot of people who play the hell out of the new game in town, and then, when they get bored of it, stop playing games.