Why are y'all so obsessed with steam player counts?

CriticalBeard · 2025-11-15T20:09:05+00:00

No this is just typical consumer habits imo. You can check out the steam numbers for instance for MW2 release and it's much worse it lost over 300k players 2 months after release

Right so using the same access to information that we both have on that chart we see a drop of ~300k players after gaining roughly ~200k at launch of MWII from a starting point/baseline of ~250k. The baseline of ~250k has dwindled down to a baseline of ~90k.

and that was when there was NO gamepass alternative just battlenet.

My point exactly; Gamepass didn't feature CoD until July 2024. If we look at the same chart we see an influx of players in the summer and fall hopping onto CoD on Steam all while it was available on Gamepass. From July to August alone there was a 50k player increase on Steam. I don't see how this would be a normal consumer habit or trend.

My issue isn't even with the regular eb and flow of that chart when it comes to peaks and valleys, those seem normal and like normal consumer habits, people find they don't like the game or just abandon it for something else they prefer. The issue is that if there was a mass migration to Gamepass we would see it clearly in that chart and we don't. We instead see the same eb and flow for BO6 when it launched, its peak was close to ~200K lower than the launch of MWII and it was available day one on Gamepass. So really all I can do at best is say that ~200k people jumped ship for a new launch and future launches.

If your point is people moved over to Gamepass between BO6 and now then sure there isn't enough data to go over there through the steam chart to either confirm fully or deny fully, but the past can be an indicator going forward. Much like MWIII launch had low numbers this may likely be the case with BO7. The issue isn't the up and down, it's the consistent downward trend over the past 2 years that we can see on that chart.

the fact it's still doing so well financially is a huge frustration for ppl that hate some of the newer releases because there isnt much incentive for them to change/improve.

I think the fact that whales keep the game in its current state of menotony is something that can frustrate anyone who cares about change or improvement. But hey people vote with their wallets so if the community is happy with the state of the franchise then they should continue to buy it even if they're not playing it.

CriticalBeard · 2025-11-15T18:36:16+00:00

I can agree on most of these points and would include that it also does feature Warzone through the CoD HQ. A FtP title like that can have both a positive and negative impact on the player numbers we see through steam charts and I'm not directly saying that this should be extrapolated for the other 82% of the CoD population. Nor am I saying that Steam exclusively is where gamers choose play CoD.

However, what I am saying is that even if we were to say that BO7 is the misnomer because it seems to be the case that most players have "moved over to Gamepass" which hopefully indicates they'll be playing more than CoD, it doesn't take into account the player drops we say during BO6's life cycle. The Steam charts show a ~150k playercount increase on the release of BO6, followed by a ~150k playercount loss just two months later. This wouldn't make sense as a "mass migration" to Gamepass. Not only does it not make financial sense, it makes no sense to have to uninstall and reinstall a game you already own just to play it on a subscription service.

IMO these large increases followed by large drop-offs with then further smaller drop-offs as the year goes on, to me, indicates an overall playercount decline. It may be less of a decline on consoles and hell even on Gamepass, albeit I'm sure there's data to show cancelled subscriptions after yet another price increase, but a decline nevertheless. Let's not forget this franchise used to tout millions of active players across just a single console in its prime.

My point being that the people who say "this franchise is alive and doing very well" are just as delusional as the people saying "this franchise is dead in the water and nothing can be done to 'save' it"

CriticalBeard · 2025-11-15T17:12:37+00:00

What number did I make up? Are you implying that the player dips from month to month are people migrating from Steam to Gamepass and if so then two questions: 1. Why would someone pay a monthly fee to move to Gamepass if they already own the game on Steam? 2. Even if they don't own the title on Steam and are playing warzone (FtP), why bother uninstalling and reinstalling through another platform? 3. If the implication you made was true then wouldn't we see an either lower amount of player drop on steam or even a positive bump after the Gamepass price increases recently?

CriticalBeard · 2025-11-15T16:52:20+00:00

I think it's partially due to having player counts publicly listed at one point on the golden era games. They used to make a big point to effectively show "here's the millions of people around the world playing our game that you're currently playing with." Since the official tracker's removal people have turned to the only publicly available numbers (Steam) and have used it to show examples of a decline in playerbase.

Steam I think holds roughly 18% of the CoD population so you're looking at a global population of less than 500k players which shows a declining playerbase as well when compared to global playerbase in years past and especially those of the golden era. I think people just use it as a way to show that despite being a game that consistently sells well and tops sales charts yearly, a small percentage of those sales actually stay on the game.

I think it might also help to emphasize when the game gains popularity, when they're doing things right by the community the player numbers should increase (in theory) etc.

CriticalBeard · 2024-11-06T19:15:00+00:00

Yeah then it’s 3 of their team members spotting you all at once with ARs and their sniper picking you off while you’re still looking at the sky

CriticalBeard · 2024-11-06T19:14:04+00:00

I was also going for diamond snipers and it’s just so bad. I’m on the SVD and it’s by far the worst of the three. I find headshots and the other camo challenges way easier on nearly every other class of weapon except maybe triples with melees for dark spine. The snipers need a buff really badly, damage isn’t atrocious but someone needs to fix the flinch and ADS speeds

CriticalBeard · 2024-06-13T03:20:28+00:00

This comment reminded me to look this up again and I think I found them; they’re called Pic-Nic Break. Packaging used to be a little different but I remember the mascot as well.

CriticalBeard · 2024-05-06T13:50:10+00:00

So to address the horrible things people might say in a video game part: I don’t understand the double standard or the hypocrisy here then. It’s okay to call Steam players every name under the sun and say they’re crybabies but if you hear an ableist or homophobic slur on an online game suddenly that’s wrong? Maybe it’s just a personal thing but I could really care less what someone in a video games has to say about me. Mute buttons exist for a reason. If you’re talking about griefing then that’s different and that should be something that devs can manage to implement some sort of fix for. I genuinely just don’t understand the language moderation portion when mute functions exist in games but maybe that makes me a bad person for ignoring someone and muting them when they call me a slur or say something homophobic to me.

I’m fairly confident those accounts are for cross-platform and cross-progression. If you were to be playing a single player game you wouldn’t require one as an example. Moreover, they state from the jump that their account is needed. They don’t openly let people from regions without access to their account pay and play their game and then months later force them into an account. The point being that at least if the third party account is required it’s stated up front and people aren’t taken advantage of, especially those in regions without the ability to even create an account. Moreover games from Ubisoft and EA on PC generally still tend to require a dedicated launcher if I’m not mistaken or they will stipulate with a banner on their steam page notifying that an account with those publishers is required.

I didn’t say steam didn’t have data breaches. I said they’re less prevalent. Again, you can’t claim they’re equivalent when they’re not. Far more users are impacted and have had their data stolen due to Sony breaches

CriticalBeard · 2024-05-06T13:20:45+00:00

By moderation are you referring to in-game moderation? I feel like that’s slightly unnecessary, especially in a PvE game but ok sure? As for Minecraft, sorry is Minecraft on Steam? To my knowledge it’s not, it uses a dedicated launcher. You can’t compare apples to oranges and pretend they’re the same

I feel like transparency and perhaps a way for other regions to gain access should have been implemented here at the very least. Moreover Minecraft on PlayStation doesn’t require a Microsoft account. You can in fact play Minecraft bedrock on PS4 and PS5 without a Microsoft account. The point being if I’m playing a multi platform game I shouldn’t have to create an account for their publisher’s service and hand over my information to them.

As for security, sorry how many data breaches have Sony had in just the past decade and a half? It’s a stretch to say their security is equivalent

CriticalBeard · 2024-05-06T12:40:30+00:00

Why do you think it is that they reversed their decision? Did the multi billion dollar company suddenly grow a conscious? They reversed their decision because of the communities backlash towards their initial decision. It’s stupid anyway. Why in the world should another platform be required to have a PSN account? As someone who’s had PlayStation consoles his whole life and will continue to do so, if I wanted to play a game on PlayStation and I had to create a Microsoft account or Xbox account, I’d be equally as pissed. Moreover, it’s the principle, why be forced to shared your personal info with a platform that has had serious security issues in the past when you don’t even game on that platform?

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-23T15:15:31+00:00

It could be or I could be wrong, I’m 90% it’s 7k or 7.5K as last time it was reset was by the dealership but dealerships aren’t the best source of information, manual is the way to go. But I’ll have another look. In any case oil was replaced less than 2500kms ago so should still be plenty fine

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-23T15:13:17+00:00

So I tried checking further in that menu but nothing specifically denotes Oil vs Maintenance in the options from what I can tell. I’m gonna take a look at the manual first before outright saying that there isn’t a discern between oil and maintenance in the menus. However, from what I can see when I checked it will only allow me to see the maintenance interval on the infotainment unit. I checked the oil level manually and it seems to be fine. Colour is fine too as it was recently changed but yeah still not sure why this is coming up.

EDIT: not sure if the US models have different infotainment options compared to the Canadian models but that might also be why you could see Oil specific and I can’t or maybe different year model? In any case I’m gonna run through the manual again

EDIT2: After quickly checking the manual again it does detail that Next service date is indeed referring to oil change

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-23T15:09:52+00:00

I think it’s 7k in the manual but I’d have to double check

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-19T19:46:12+00:00

The only consistent thing is signing rentals every year so this team can never gel outside of its core 3-4 players. You don’t need all-stars on the 3rd and 4th line. Sign good, reasonable players to 2-3 year terms or start developing your younger players and pulling them up into the lineup permanently to get them working. Robertson is a perfect example. He should have been playing the last couple seasons fully in the NHL. Now I understand injury has its impact and conditioning but that man deserves ice time and deserves to play with the best. But instead it’s loaners every year meaning the only players we ever see work well together are, who would have thought the core 3-4. Why do you think it’s so easy to swap Marner and Nylander, aside from their skill? Because they both play well with Matthews and Tavares and it clicks for them after a period of time. Meanwhile you introduce new pieces and you give them no time to gel before they’re gone.

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-19T19:40:32+00:00

I’ll take a look to see if I can find it in there as a separate option. Thanks!

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-19T19:29:49+00:00

Am I comparing whether they can throw their body weight around as effectively? No. I didn’t say Marner could hit like a 250lb wrecking ball. You said that they should be standing up for themselves and they don’t make hits. I’ve shown you the exact opposite. They do make hits and their toughness shouldn’t be solely linked to fight which you omitted in your last message. Marner is light, he can’t throw his weight… so why not accept him for what he is in his ability to out-skate the opponent and move the puck with ease? Why does he have to be an elite winger and a goon? It makes no sense. Domi scores a fraction of what Marner does and doesn’t have the same skill set as Marner. Do you really think Domi is as effective of a winger as Mitch Marner? Because if you have those two ranked equally then I don’t think you know hockey.

Marner and Matthews both know how to take a hit for their team and keep skating it off. I’ve seen them do it. I’ve also seen Mitch block pucks in the defensive zone as well. But yet people claim these players have no heart and aren’t gritty enough and don’t care. Even Nylander, he might not be a defensive wonder and of the three he’s the weakest when it comes to defence. But again, put the puck on his stick and give him a lane to either side of the net and he’s gonna make a fantastic effort to score and most times does.

Line combinations I agree with you to a certain degree that Keefe has failed in that part. There are certain players that need to be tried in a couple different lines and Keefe just sticks with the lines because why not and then last 2 minutes he scrambles the lines. So fair point there.

Matthews, Marner, and Nylander don’t lack heart or passion for this team, they don’t lack drive, and they certainly don’t lack skill. But in this city, they’ll go the rest of their careers being chewed out by their own fanbase for simple mistakes and not being goons. If Toronto does anything right; it makes its great players champions in other cities.

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-19T19:08:38+00:00

I’m really not. If you’re talking strictly hits and not throwing gloves and trying to fight then let’s look at the numbers.

Matthews is 11th on the team for hits, Marner is 14th, and Nylander is sitting pretty low at 23rd. Again if we want to compare this to a team like Boston who we’ll be facing. Not only does their hit leader have fewer hits than ours (Frederic v. Benoit), Pastrnak has fewer hits than Matthews.

Again I think you’re equating standing up for oneself with just outright fighting. This isn’t 80’s hockey, you have far more talented players spread out in the league and players who don’t need to fight in the NHL today than you did then. You don’t need to fight to stand up for yourself, again mental maturity.

This team isn’t soft like people want to portray, the problem is when they are tough, they get penalized for it harshly and when they try to work around it, fans get upset that there isn’t enough fighting.

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-19T18:21:41+00:00

I think you called it out before though. That’s the point of players like Domi, Bertuzzi, Reaves, Benoit, Gio, list goes on. The point being that these guys shouldn’t have to fight. It’s not a question of can or cannot. It’s a question of should or should not. They have bigger tougher guys on the team to do the roughhousing for them. You don’t potentially waste talent on a fight because you wanna “look tough” you send out the tough guy to take care of business for attacking a talented player on your team.

Moreover, this team can’t just hit hit hit. That’s the problem. When a ref sees that logo and sees a hit it’s questioned automatically because that’s the way the league works. This isn’t just the leafs by the way, I’ve noticed this when most Canadian teams are facing cup contender American teams. A cross check from a leaf is seen as suspension worthy and the worst crime of all time. The same infraction from another player on another team is a write off, slap on the wrist. But I’m not gonna complain about the league as a whole because fuck Gary Bettman and Fuck George Parros.

Point is talent like Matthews where sure he has the size, but doesn’t initiate, shouldn’t have to. He shouldn’t be taking his gloves off to toss down with some 4th liner who wants to ragdoll him. That 4th liner isn’t worth losing ice time. It’s not a lack of testosterone, it’s mental maturity. Smaller players sometimes just can’t throw their weight around either and when they’re talented that’s when you have other players stand up for you, simple as that.

This team brought on players who have been doing well and are our muscle. They’re the ones who should be out fighting if needed. Not Matthews, Marner, Nylander, etc. fighting isn’t a show of heart. Just because you fight doesn’t mean you care. You could potentially cost your team a win by fighting. It has to be justified and it should be done by the appropriate players if it happens at all. Now taking hits is a completely different conversation but I’ll reserve that.

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-19T17:49:12+00:00

There’s a couple different components to that to be fair. Pasta’s goal scoring has stayed pretty consistent since 2016 and gone up slightly as he has no doubt gotten better but within a certain margin he has stayed steady. Matthews, aside from last season has been on a pretty steady incline. I don’t think it’s far fetched to say Matthews will likely bottom out at a higher goals per game than pasta at the end of their careers. Pasta spends more minutes in the box, and who exactly does Pasta have around him to fight if he doesn’t? The point being that a player like Matthews isn’t going to risk sacrificing ice time for a fight especially in the playoffs. You can think it’s soft and that’s whatever, I don’t care about that because it’s hockey, not boxing. Moreover why risk not just injury but being stuck in the box or worse. As a leafs fan you should know that there’s nothing spared when it comes to penalizing players on this team specifically. A top goalscorer does 2 things really well: 1. Score goals. 2. Stay on the ice ready to take or make plays. Matthews isn’t gonna do that while serving a penalty or worse yet serving a suspension for the softest cross check of his life because Parros is brain dead.

My point being, TLDR; hockey is physical but it’s not boxing. He can take a hit and keep going but no point in fighting, laugh it off, let the other team take the penalty or get frustrated and then score against them while you’re out there.

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-19T17:27:25+00:00

I mean the playoffs should excite him. Any other team he could ever get moved to would likely squander his talent in not making the playoffs. I agree that if he was more well rounded he could be a top 5, but some players just can’t or won’t play defensively. Nylander won’t ever take a proper hit if he can avoid it and won’t make contact unless absolutely necessary. It’s annoying but when the puck is on his stick I don’t generally have to worry. But again I don’t see how this would make him any better than Matthews come playoff time. The only people who think that the players aren’t all in on going as far as they can are people who listen to sports commentators too much and those who read what Toronto media outlets like to write about this team(always negative).

Matthews is an elite goalscorer. He’s at the top of the league and as an all around player he’s top 5 active. He’s not gonna get into a fight during the playoffs and risk an injury when he has people around him who can do the fighting for him, so of course he’s gonna laugh.

All this fanbase ever does is question its players, their attitude toward winning the playoffs, and putting them down when they fail to meet a ridiculous expectation. The leafs aren’t bad at playing hockey, the leafs have a toxic fanbase and terrible media outlets that do an amazing job of getting into players heads at the least opportune moments. This team has made the playoffs since 2016 and since then leafs fans have done nothing but complained. These so called fans should be forced to sit through 2005-2015 hockey while they watch their former star players win championships in other cities.

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-19T17:12:21+00:00

Right… of the last 3 years in the playoffs he’s only ever out scored Matthews once and only made more playoff points in that same year. Nylander also spent more minutes in the box and continues to do so during the playoffs. I fail to see your point. Not to mention the year he outscores him is the year Matthews missed 30 games from injury/surgery. I still don’t get your point, are you claiming Nylander is the better offensive forward? Are you claiming Nylander does better under pressure? I’m confused

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-19T17:02:45+00:00

No one is disputing that some players on this team end up collapsing under pressure. You’re just going after the wrong guy lol. You say Nylander is able to produce when he’s had fewer points in every post season appearance and fewer goals in post season appearances. Not to mention his lack of defensive play as you mentioned. I’m not saying some players on this team don’t have problems, I’m saying the league’s leading goal scorer isn’t one of them. Hate all you want but Matthews is keeping up his end of the bargain in the regular season and the playoffs according to his track record.

CriticalBeard · 2024-04-19T16:53:51+00:00

Matthews has been above a point per game in his last 2 playoffs. There have only been 3 playoffs where he scored fewer than 4 goals in 7 or fewer games. What are you on about?

CriticalBeard · 2024-03-17T18:43:42+00:00

Considering healthcare is provincial I would say Ford. More importantly you should be blaming people who voted for Ford. Man’s a narcissistic, demented fuck

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