Death Stranding Celebrates 20 Million Players Milestone as PS5 Sequel Approaches

That's a lot of packages delivered...

Recently started this on the Portal, I'm about 3 hours in and I don't know how I feel about it tbh. There's a lot of things that are going to get tedious fast, im thinking of just lowering the difficulty and focusing on the story whilst skipping the side stuff.

Wow. I had no idea it reached such an audience. Well done!

20 millions? I thought it would be more niche than this. Then again, Elden ring gave PTSD to over 28 million players.

Like like that definitely was not annoying. !

That's a really impressive number for a game that at its core is pretty niche. Sequel can't come soon enough.

I'm very surprised (but happy) at this. I personally loved the game, although I fell off the original and came back for the upgraded edition on ps5. But I can certainly see why people didn't enjoy the game, it's definitely an acquired taste

Finished my playthrough of the Directors Cut last week, might even go for the platinum. Probably will do a few deliveries each day to get max rank on all facilities, while also working on the premium delivery trophies.

It was given away for free on Epic Games' Store for a while which I imagine could equate to a few million, but that's nonetheless a huge milestone for what seemed at first to be very much in the shadow of Metal Gear Solid. Clearly a game that found a lot of its audience after launch day, myself included.

I loved every moment of the game. I'm one of the people it fully clicked with for whatever reason. Can't wait for DS2 It's just in time for a big birthday for me.😁

@UltimateOtaku91 a certain gif put me off the sequel rofl. I got thru the first, not sure if I’m up for more

According to some people on the Internet, that number is meaningless and doesn't indicate success.

For the rest of us, good job DS. Really surprised by that number, personally. It felt like the reception was critically and commercially lukewarm at launch; it's interesting how it's gone to be mostly reappraised since.

@RoomWithaMoose Honestly, i don't really see how numbers like these equals succes, per se. It’s also been on PS+ for years, i’m sure lots of people have tried it. I’m guessing it also counts everyone who just started it and played for an hour or two and never continued.

I’m not sure what they are trying to convey when devs/publishers share these numbers, it’s not like these are active concurrent players or something.

But nonetheless, happy for them that they achieved this and reached many people with their game.

@RoomWithaMoose Of course it means success.

But it's hilarious to see people unable to get from double standard. Because many people who mocks when publisher (especially Xbox) announces that (for example) Forza Horizon 5 have 45 million players, because "it's players, not copies sold" now need to pretend that Death Stranding having 20 mil. is huge

@LogicStrikesAgain They're just trying to convey engagement. Not every game has 2 million players, let alone 20 million. That might not translate directly to sales, but it's still a success of marketing, licensing deals, and subscription services. While a big part of it is just fluffy numbers for investors, player count shows you have a marketable game that people want to play.

And, you know, a lot of people act like a developer gets NOTHING for having their game on PS+/Gamepass. Or like Ubisoft wouldn't be happy to have a million subscribers to their internal sub service playing their new game. The industry has been very actively trying to establish revenue streams divorced from the traditional up-front purchase. It's really hard for us users, without detailed breakdowns of costs/revenue, to judge a game's holistic success — especially these days.

@Godot25 is it the same people? Can you give some examples?

I love Death Stranding will be platinuming it again on PS5 before Death Stranding 2 comes out. I never pre-order games mostly, but I've pre-ordered Death Stranding 2.

@RoomWithaMoose Yeah, i get what you’re saying, and you’re right. I’m not trying to be difficult or anything. Honestly, i’m happy for them.

Personally however, i’ve never quite understood what to take away from these announcements of how many people tried their game. I dont know if this is impressive or not. On the one hand these are pretty good numbers (i think?), on the other hand they must surely pale in comparison to other games. And i’m not singling out this game, i get the same confused thoughts when MS announces all their “engagement” numbers.

I mean it includes people just booting up a game for an hour. So what am i to take from it? I dont really know what to bench it against. I mean, what are “average” engagement numbers for games anyway? That way i might have a clue how these numbers compare. And even that would be hard to compare, as some games are multiplat, and some are on subscription services, so many more would be able to try the game which would add to those numbers quickly.

In any way, sales make more sense to me as a benchmark of succes than engagement numbers. Which technically, these numbers don’t even represent engagement of players. Just a history of the amount of people that played the game since release. Steams concurrent players list would be a more accurate number to represent engagement.

But again, in no way am i implying with all of this that i’m not happy for them. I’m happy their hard work reached that many people! 👍🏼

@UltimateOtaku91
Just so you know the game gets easier and easier the more you play, you get access to vehicles, ziplines, robots that carry stuff for you etc. By late game delivering packages gets stupidly easy.

@LogicStrikesAgain Player count is just one part of the puzzle. As are legit sales, as well as Steam concurrent numbers. Even critical reception is important to note. I would say straight sales numbers are the best indicator of success. But not even they are the whole story, and since budgets and on-sale sales numbers are hardly publicly available, it's still hard to really tell if something is a success from those numbers alone.

For example, consider how Wii Sports is one of the best selling games of all time. How much revenue did it actually make for Nintendo? Even more abstract, how many Wiis sold because of its bundling? To step out of gaming, why should Disney make another season of X-Men '97 when no one directly bought it? It's about engagement. It's about grabbing hold of the conversation. It's about brand/IP exposure and establishment. There's just so much to a — anything's success, really.

As for not being able to interpret these numbers, they're not really for us to interpret. Like I said, it's very difficult for us to know what constitutes success without having the full picture. The only reason they're sharing these numbers publicly is to build brand hype (and maybe earnest transparency or celebration, if you don't want to be cynical about it). Even your desire to know the average player count is mostly irrelevant, as every game has different goals for sales, player count, concurrent players, playtime, virality, reception,etc. (and there's almost certainly teams at every large publisher looking at all of those numbers).

"Like" 👍

(Filler text because reasons lol).

@RoomWithaMoose Your last paragraph basically sums up why i’m confused with these numbers. It doesn't really tell the whole picture.

As for the X-men example, they would know when to make a second season if they see many people continue watching after the first (few) episodes. Thats true engagement.

I’m sure if most people stopped watching after one episode they wouldn't make a second season.

However this number Kojima and MS (and others) share arent engagement numbers, per se. It’s just a total amount of people that started the game since release. It doesnt mention if people stopped playing after an hour. So still doesnt tell you much.

Again, i’m not trying to be pedantic here, i think you’re right with most of what you’re saying.

@LogicStrikesAgain Again, it's mostly just fluff for shareholders. Secondarily, it improves public perception.

I wouldn't really say credits-reached numbers are much better, or different, to a major publisher than players-started. It's all some form of engagement; your assertion of "true engagement" isn't really a definitive consensus, nor can we assume that's the big number streamers are looking at to greenlight new seasons/sequels/spin-offs (if no one finished X-Men, but sub numbers increased 10% at its release undeniably due to its release, would Disney care at all? If the show was trending on socials throughout its run, does it matter that most people only watched two episodes?).

I don't really think you're wrong, either. I do feel like there's a tacit insistence that certain numbers are significantly more relevant than others, which I would softly disagree with. But you're right to find player counts confusing, as it's just a surface level window into a game's success. I don't at all think it's irrelevant, but there's not too much to interpret from it alone. I guess my biggest argument is: that really goes for any singular stat.

That's awesome and well deserved. Unbelievably hyped for DS2. Its also refreshing to have a developer say straight up that it's not all sales.

Definitely my favorite in the strand genre. Might have some stiff competition since the genre is doubling in June.

I'm curious why devs / pubs used players numbers and not sales numbers. Is it because their games released for subscription service?

But i'm happy for Kojima and Death Stranding deserved the success.

@RoomWithaMoose I think Disney would care if numbers started dropping after the first episode. They’d be foolish to create a second season if they see all the metrics point to disinterest after one episode. But thats just my opinion. You’re right, i have no idea how they decide such things.

But i think continued engagement would be more important and meaningful than just counting how many people started something. Especially when they decide for sequels or new seasons. Anyone can start a new series or game, especially if there’s a lot of hype, but if they don’t like it they will stop playing, and i think that would be an important factor that publishers take note off.

Lets put it this way, Avowed has reached almost 6 million players in its first month alone. What do those numbers tell us? How can we gauge success from those stats? Why and how is “amount of people played since release” considered a sign of succes? Rather than just a sign of good marketing or something?

Hypothetically, what if those numbers reach 30 million in the next few months, because most people on Game Pass have given it a try. But lets say, afterwards the game hardly has any concurrent players, doesnt sell well, and gets low user scores. A year from now, could we still call this game a succes solely because it hit a total player count of 30 million?

While it is interesting to know how many people started the game, it isnt, in my opinion, as important as other benchmarks of succes such as player retention, sales, and critical reviews.

I agree with you though, its all just marketing and has more to do with getting the attention from investors and to appease share holders than anything else

@RoomWithaMoose I just want to reiterate, that i’m happy for Kojima Studios for what they have achieved. Even if my replies might come across as if i’m not haha. Im really only debating on whether or not these numbers tell us much, not arguing against their excitement for reaching so many people with their game

“Daniel Ahmad on social media: Worth noting that the game had sold less than 5m copies prior to the PC, PS+, PS5, Series X|S, Mac releases”

Been thinking of trying this but the premise sounds incredibly boring. Nothing but delivering packages and looking ridiculous while doing it. All those tall stacks of crap on the guys back. WTF?

I’m one of those who invested heavily in Death Stranding and was in no way disappointed, found a depth to it that once I clicked with it just impacted me so deeply. The sold vs played argument doesn’t concern me, except to say I hope that most of the millions who did try it out also managed to discover and appreciate the emotional punches it held, all the beauty to be found in the mundane and arcane and insane. Really looking forward to the sequel.

@Truegamer79 "nothing but delivering packages and looking ridiculous while doing it"

Delivering packages while:

• Traversing dangerous terrains
• Avoiding / fighting supernatural creatures and other human group who wants to steal the packages
• Build roads, highway, bridges, shelter, postbox, safehouse etc that can be used for yourself and other players
• Crafting new tech and weapons from power suit that can reduces the packages weight and give more speed, rifles & grenades, delivery bots, floating carrier etc which is really helpful

Oh you can also drive motorcycle or cargo truck to deliver the packages.

If 20 million have played the game it is a good bet that 2 to 4 million at the very least bought it. Those are good numbers even if some of the people didn't finish it. I thought it was ok but my oldest son loved it. I'm glad it was successful and that they are making another one. We need as much variety in gaming as possible.

@RoomWithaMoose Sorry to drag this on, but i’m sure no one is gonna read this comment section anymore.

Just wanted to give a quick other example. The Xbox sister site just wrote an article where they call Atomfall a colossal succes. Its been tried by 1.5 million players so far after barely a week. Which is pretty good i guess.

However, the game has a rather average 75 metacritic score with a very mixed 65 userscore. Sales? No idea, probably not that high. Player retention? My guess? No one will even remember this game exists in a few months.

But somehow the amount of people trying a game is enough nowadays to equate with succes, colossal succes even. I really dont understand how such a small factor is now considered one of the most important numbers in deciding whether a game is a succes.

What if people who tried it, hated it? Don’t they factor such things in before calling it a succes? Im so weirded out by the use of this metric to define any kind of succes, it’s just so random and incomplete, to me at least

@LogicStrikesAgain I don't really have much insight beyond what I've already said.

Atomfall was never going to be blockbuster. So 1.5 million players after about a week is pretty good. Does it make it a success? I dunno. If it was 1.5 million sales, would that make it a success? I dunno. Does retention really matter if it's not GaaS? Not much. Does an only fairly good metascore or average user score detract from the player count? Not really. Should they have called it a "colossal success." I reckon not.

I guess this is all I can really add: This close to release, all these numbers just indicate trends. 1.5 million in total might not seem that impressive. But 1.5 million in one week for a game with hardly any hype — that's decent. Player count will only go up, and sales will correlate with it. It's a successful start.

Also, don't think that player count numbers aren't earned. I have no intention of trying or buying Atomfall. That can be seen as a failure on the game's part. Even if 1.5 million players didn't play a great deal, that's still millions that gave the game the time of day. They could always come back. Buy it if they played it through some service and were sold. Spread good will and word of month, if they were impressed. Again, player count indicates some form of engagement, and all engagement tends to be good engagement.