bbro Posted August 27, 2025 Report Posted August 27, 2025 Hey devs and community, I've been enjoying Vintage Story for a while now and really appreciate the transparency and community engagement around the development of the game. One thing I noticed, however, is that while there are occasional development updates and community stats (like server activity or mod downloads), there's no visible information on how many copies of the game have actually been purchased. I think it would be great if the website included a running total of game purchases or downloads — not to track individual users or active players, but simply to showcase how many people have supported the game over time. This could serve a few purposes: Build community excitement as milestones are reached (e.g. 100k, 500k purchases). Increase trust and show transparency around the growth of the playerbase. Encourage new players by highlighting the game's success and growing popularity. Even a simple counter on the homepage or an "About" page with stats like "Vintage Story has been purchased X times since its launch" would be awesome to see. Of course, I understand if there are business or privacy reasons behind not showing this, but if it’s feasible, I think the community would really appreciate it! Curious what others think — would you like to see this too?
Entaris Posted August 27, 2025 Report Posted August 27, 2025 (edited) This sounds like market research. Who do you work for? My guess is that you're a scout for a VC looking to "get in on the MC killer" and so you're trying to drum up some metrics to take back to your masters so they can hash out a buyout number. Edited August 27, 2025 by Entaris Wright-esque Conclusion jump
LadyWYT Posted August 27, 2025 Report Posted August 27, 2025 Welcome to the forums! 1 hour ago, bbro said: Build community excitement as milestones are reached (e.g. 100k, 500k purchases). Keeping in mind that purchases do not equal actual players--you can buy the game but end up not playing it very often, if at all. A high player count generally means that the game has enough engaging mechanics to be a popular choice for gamers to devote their time to. Likewise, a purchase doesn't really count if it's refunded later, and the Vintage Story refund policy is quite generous. I don't know that many people actually refund the game, but it's still a factor. 1 hour ago, bbro said: Increase trust and show transparency around the growth of the playerbase. Again, "copies sold" is not the same as actual players. 1 hour ago, bbro said: Encourage new players by highlighting the game's success and growing popularity. The game's growing popularity and success are already shown by increasing attention on social media, and the number of new faces that come through the forums asking various questions appropriate for new players to be asking. 1 hour ago, bbro said: Of course, I understand if there are business or privacy reasons behind not showing this, but if it’s feasible, I think the community would really appreciate it! Curious what others think — would you like to see this too? I mean, it would be interesting to see the numbers, but I also agree with @Entaris...sounds like market research. I'm also not sure it would be healthy for the community either. "Flavor of the month" is a definite thing, and I don't think it would be good to have a big influx of people pick up the game just because it appears to be the popular thing at the moment. If one only plays the game because it's popular, and not because they actually enjoy it...they're likely to be disappointed. 1
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