Discussion: Strategy to increase SteamDB numbers

Yeah, I think this went over really well. GamerMuscle made a positive video about it and I'm sure the rest of the popular content creators will be busy making videos about both the patch and the upcoming DLC.

They definitely bought themselves time to work on the next major features, as people won't mind the delayed Racin' USA Pt.3 if it includes full course yellows and a safety/pace car. My guess is that they'll create an oval safety rating as well.

 

I cannot be arsed to post a screenshot, but the patch (possibly combined with Steam sale) has doubled (or even a bit more) concurrent user count. AMS2 is now at rF2 level. And Racin' USA Pt2 has not been released yet !

 

AC will bury all sims, including AC2 . People will still play AC fondly in 2040, the same way people are still playing RBR, an abandonware rally sim from 2006.

 

Until CSP 3.0 improves loose surface physics and all RBR/DR2 content is assimilated lol.

I was surprised to see so many people online on a Monday! Not too many complaints on the forum at the moment, just a few things which are probably going to be fixed in a hotfix. This weekend should see plenty of CART action.

 

+1 to the suggestions of weekly scheduled races and time trials. Been playing Raceroom the last couple of months and the best thing about is the scheduled races each week that run at regular intervals. The new multiplayer ratings can be used to create rookie, amateur, pro, etc requirements. Since AMS2 has such a broad variety of cars and tracks, scheduling some lesser known gems should be positive for all.

 

I think Reiza figured out how to build hype and keep it going. It seems to be in the form of an update or patch or new content every 2-3 weeks. They should be able to keep that pace going into the new year, with the remainder of the USA Pt.2 content and some Nissan/AM content too.

There is going to have to be some DLC overlap soon though, as 2022 is going to be packed with content!
Racin' USA Pt.3 (probably gonna release Feb. 18th, in time for the Daytona 500)
2 Historic Track Packs
Historic Spa
Historic Nürburgring
Final Track of the Track Pack DLC
Adrenaline Pack
Street Supercars Pack (pretty sure I seen a Pt.1 in Steam at some point, so probably a multi-part DLC...)
Brazilian Legends Pack

Of course we're never satisfied, I hope they come out with another season pass at the end of the year!

 

GT legends, gtr2 and cam-am packs please.

 

I think it's going to work out well with 1.3 followed shortly by Racin USA part 2. Content creators can highlight the new DLC, and they'll be experiencing 1.3 physics with the minor issues already addressed and further refinement.

 

Yeah I'm looking forward to GPLaps making a Cleveland video, he pretty much has to since he made one about IndyCar Racing II a few months ago.

 

Yeah and they should have an Europe pack with Le Man as the main draw.

 

This is a question of marketing and thats where I have some suggestions;

• Create new trailors for the game showing off new content and updates that have happened since launch. Currently the steam page only has old content and display, and a new trailer with the modern game will show off the best qualities, the new cars and the improved graphics;
• At the moment, googling for reiza/ams2 brings up the forum, which is not a good advert for the game due to the constant fighting on here for some reason. A better advert for perspective racers to land on would be the official game website https://www.game-automobilista2.com/. Unfortunatly it also hasn't been updated with the latest content, and has no features which would encourage it to have a higher ranking in google searches. At minimum I would suggest a 'News' section where the latest patch notes and trailers are posted.

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• Improve the multiplayer system such that both esports competitions and higher-level mp racing can occur. At the moment on sites such as Twitch, Iracing and ACC have far more viewers watching and streaming their games, and AMS2 ought to have more features such that more streamers are going to want to stream AMS2. At the moment, streamers typically only race AMS2 after updates before moving back to their regular staple, I think reiza needs to find a way of keeping them playing AMS2. I would personally integrate the racing services of Sim Racing System, Welcome to JustRace and racecraft.online - Sim Racing Ranked Matchmaking System for Automobilista 2 into the game client, as these services already provide organised racing for AMS2 but require going on 3rd party websites to use.
• This suggestion is going to hurt, but more GT3s are not going to reduce player counts.

 

Not to be a bummer but it looks like 1.3 update and DLC hype only lasted a couple of days as numbers have already dropped back down to pre 1.3 build numbers 500ish

Reading through this thread there are some real good ideas I feel the devs should look into to help boost player counts.

A dev blog confirming what is and isint currently implemented in the game compared to PC2....ex. loose surface physics, road map going forward etc.

IMO the recommended FFB thread should have been updated and ready for the 1.3 update release.

Somewhat of useless info.....the top 3 viewed and replied to threads on this form. 1m+ views/ .5m replies

Recommended FFB settings
Custom FFB settings
Bug reporting

For single player mode, I'd love to see a career mode like PC2.

Multi player....there is only one true champion when it comes to MP....iRacing.
In simple terms....do the best to replicate it.
Take the most popular content, do a weekly rotation, 12 week season with point tracking, 4 seasons a yr.

Add weekly time trials with random combos with some type of prize or credits like Raceroom.

The game needs a good performance pass to help improve weather, night races and AA.

Improve marketing, not sure if we have a community rep? But it would be nice to see a Reiza employee promoting weekly races or upcoming dlc's outside of the weekly beta testing.
Give away a couple random codes to the game or dlc after each weekly race.

It might also help to encourage those using soley the beta version, to use the public version.
As those players can help pass info to new comers of the title.

My .02

Cheers
David

 

This is expected, players will play the sim which most recently had a major update, and that sim right now is iracing. There is a large group of sim racers who i believe move between sims and they've gone to iracing right now.

Another factor is that it was week 13, which is generally a non-serious week where people who main iracing try out other sims.

Consider tracking the longer term, such as with weekly moving averages rather than the noise of specific days for greater insight,

 

Although numbers have dropped a bit, they are still much higher than pre 1.3.
It looks like to increase player retention, MP must be developed more.

 

I tend to track the monthly numbers.

The 1.3 update released on Nov. 27th and the first patch the 28th which peaked player counts till Dec 5th but are now half that number yet slightly higher than the pre build avg. Of 200ish.

Week 13 in iracing started this past Monday and runs till next Monday.
Like you said people vacate week 13 and play other titles. AMS2 numbers had already dipped by then.

I could be mistaken but I don't feel too many iRacers are currently playing AMS2 to effect those numbers much.
Going by the "other games" thread on the iRacing form the last comment in the AMS2 discussion thread was on Nov.9th with this said....

"Online is still dead, which is shocking because they have the standard Monza and GT3 classes.

Reiza do seem to be making some progress on the handling and physics. The cars are starting to behave much better, but there are some outliers. The Porsche Cup for example is absolutely terrible at the moment, but the early Formula Classic, GT1, and Class C all seem to behave quite nicely. Looking at their update, it appears as though there are some physics improvements coming so I can only hope it will keep improving."

Not 1 person commented in the thread about the recent update/dlc which was pretty surprising.

 

New trailer and updated website would be nice indeed.