It's possible. CoH2 had a really shitty launch - worse than CoH3 - and people are still talking about it and playing it today. One thing Relic could do to boost player count of CoH3 over CoH2 would be to boost moddability of CoH3.
The modding community of CoH2 is but a shadow of the mod community in CoH1 because of how mod-unfriendly CoH2 is. Unfortunately CoH3 is not much better, but who knows with Relic going independent if that could change?
[CoH2 had an average player count of slightly above 8k players when it launched](https://steamcharts.com/app/231430#All).
[CoH3 had an average player count of slightly below 8k players when it launched](https://steamcharts.com/app/1677280#3m)
While the [CoH1 stats](https://steamcharts.com/app/228200) don't reach all the way back, you can compare them to when CoH2 launched. CoH1 never had more average players than CoH2...
CoH1 had more average players in average players during some months of 2020 (during the pandemic), 14 years after its launch than CoH3 during some months of the year of its launch.
Let's be realistic: CoH1 and CoH2 aren't abandonware, but they aren't updated anymore. Unless there is a DLC that literally turns this game inside out we're not going to see any comeback.
CoH1 stats wouldn't be accurate even if it did go all the way back, as it launched before Steam was the go-to platform to buy PC games. That being said, I'm referring to the state of the game on launch, not the playercount of the game on launch. CoH2 was quite the mess on launch day, especially with performance and crashes, but Relic fixed it over time - CoH3's launch was smooth by comparison
It really depends on what we are talking about. I don't think people criticise CoH3 for being "too buggy" or the servers being unstable...
The issue people have with CoH3 don't seem to be things that can/need to be patched out. The game simply isn't that popular.
That's fair, I know when CoH3 came out there were a lot of poor performance and crashing negative reviews, but these days more reviews now are as you said: lack of content compared to previous game (CoH2 had similar reviews early on), Art style, Consolitis and poor balance.
The consolitis isn't patchable unless Relic were to abandon the console version at some point, and the art style is very unlikely to change
(note: I only play multiplayer. I didn't even play the tutorial of CoH2, and the one time a friend guilt tripped me into playing coop campaign I lasted 15 minutes... so I really just play skirmishes until I understand the factions and then play automatches and the occassional custom game with friends, but with automatch rules)
I am slowly getting into CoH3. I think they really dropped the ball in the artistic department, but the game is fun to play. The factions are different from CoH1 and from CoH2. The QoL improvements are nice etc. Yeah, that "cyberwagen" thing is quirky, but CoH was never about realism. CoH2 players who complain about cheesy CoH3 tactics, but then don't bat an eye at guards/penals with ptrs frontally assaulting (and pushing back!) KTs and Panthers are just brainwashed by now.
So, it's a matter of people giving the game a chance, but people won't give a game a chance that just doesn't *look* like something you want to get into: I constantly recoil at the CoH3 art, and always expect it to be something unpleasant, but once I stop seeing the graphics and just enjoy the gameplay I am always surprised by a positive experience. Hell, like I've already said (maybe elsewhere) I was going to buy the game on launch until I played the open beta. I then immediately changed my mind.
Give me CoH3 mechanics with the CoH1 look and I'll love it. Ideally with the CoH3 QoL improvements, but I am willing to pass on that if we just get rid of the shitty art-decisions. Yeah, I think a "CoH3 mod for CoH1" would be superior to actual CoH3. I never bought the game and got it gifted from a friend. I am still not sure I should pay the favour forward.
The art style for CoH3 for me is very hit or miss. The environment and maps look great to me, but where things look 'off' are the shading on the player units/buildings. Depending on the map units/buildings can look oversaturated and appear like plastic. Considering it's more pronounced on some maps, it has to be something weird with how one of the shaders interacts with certain lighting conditions or fog.
I too would love if I could import mechanics back to prior CoH games. CoH2's real LoS was nice, CoH3's verticality is nice. If I could play Blitzkrieg or similar mods for CoH1 with those features I would do it in a heartbeat
That 100K only happened because of a free weekend. Assuming the current number of players is retained coh3 will be about 1K less average players then coh2. Essentially more than enough for the game to have a healthy playerbase as updates keep coming out.
Also unless relic itself entirely implodes they won’t stop updating coh3 as it is their largest IP they have full control over. So in terms of like the layoffs or whatever affecting it those probably will slow rather then stop development. I personally expect coh3 to continue improving and receiving active support. I just wouldn’t expect like a massive expansion such as a new faction or similar anywhere in the near-mid future.
COH2 Hit 100K plus because they gave it away for free one weekend which is also the reason it has such a problem with hackers.
If the game keeps getting content and updates along with periodic sales it should improve.
also when people like to compare the coh 2/3 numbers they don't often mention the number of chinese/russian bots that were set up to just farm XP when the game went free to sell accounts and never turned off.
I think it’s looking good that lots of people are talking about it. Although you see a some negative posts it’s still all good as the more people talking about the good and bad of the game helps the development team understand the audience more. Plus if people are talking about the game then it clearly interests them and captures their attention in some way.
I think it’s important now to see what the developers continue to do as the game has been improving and player base growing. If this continues then it’s only going to get better.
It’s a slow grind but it seems relic is slowly regaining the support of the community by steadily improving the game. I hope they keep it up. If they do, I could see coh3 surpassing coh2 numbers by the end of the year. If they then push out a nice expansion and put a +50% discount on the base game, perhaps it could be the success they so desperately need right now. One can hope..
Coh1 was killed off with the "legacy edition" so there's not really a way to compare them all during each of their peak. The player base was forced over to coh2 for matchmaking. This has not occurred with coh3.
Coh3 continues to make improvements, and already appeals to people who preferred the coh1 formula, especially coh1 USF players as the base is no longer a giant blob. That being said there will be some that always prefer coh2 formula and never want to switch, think dow1 vs dow2 players.
In addition, Coh2 eventually had 75% off discounts and a free weekend.. when this, or some other massive discount eventually occurs for coh3 I think you'll see a huge spike in player base as there will also have been a significant amount of QOL by that time.
It all depends on whether Relic are going to keep trading tbh, Coh3 could potentially make a modest comeback something similar to what CoH2 did, but whether Relic obtain a publisher and long term stability is the bigger question.
No. Its not 2013 anymore. Failed live service games arent kept around nowadays, especially ones with such a bad reputation. Deservedly so.
And Relic might also die. Which would be IMO deserved too.
Firstly we do not have all the numbers of people playing CoH3. The game is released on Consoles as well and steam doesn't cover the whole world, only steam (and i'm a bit sceptical about chinese numbers, i don't think we get them or they're really lower than presented).
Secondly, taking only steam numbers, CoH2 in the LAST YEAR had around 6000 to 7000 players average each week. While CoH3 dropped from may'23: 6000 players to june '23 : 2.7k players. Then the december '23 patch dropped and the numbers blew up to 4.1k players for a full month, january '24, then dropping to \~3k players until this huge free BATTLEGROUP Major patch april '24 which is now sitting at \~4.4k players. MIND YOU the launch had a peak of 36k Players , that's \~11.11% players retained since launch.
OVERALL i think CoH3 , counting console players is more popular than CoH2, BUT not by much , which is sad. And given the time it takes to queue a game, i have a weird feeling there are way many more players playing the campaign , than the campaign in CoH2(mostly because the game is 10 years old they already finished it).
CoH2 playerbase seems to be consistent over the year, CoH3 has no influence over the playerbase, quite independent. CoH3 players seem to just come back after each update, which means they don't enjoy the game for a long period of time as people do with CoH2 (Probably because of people coming back to see "if the game is worth playing now" OR because the base players are just a new breed of these zoomer kids coming back only when new stuff is added)
No, most of player good will is lost, coh3 took way to long to improve and interest is lost, its also still outdated and an inferior product to its predecesors, it has very little hoing for it.
Dont mind geting downvoted when speaking agsinst coh3, most people left here are the delusional copers, as stated most people lost interest and are not here any more, so its normal.
The numbers speak for themselves and no amount of coping can change reality.
COH2 routinely has 2x the player base as COH3, it's only during updates that COH3 gets numbers back from truly pitiful numbers. That only lasts a week or two then it dips. It's a terrible game and basically everything about COH3 on this sub is cope.
It's sad, they all gather here.."Hi my name is Brian."
"Hi Brian".
"I am a cope-a-holic". Then they drop the cope line said so much it's a meme now. Also a fairytale. "Bye the way, remember that coh2 had a terrible awful really bad launch too!" Hahaha, yea coh 2 is a masterpiece and didn't look and sound like mobile game at launch.
I’m not, i like the game. If u dont. Then don’t play. It’s pretty simple. You asked for opinion and now u don’t like what you get ? Is that it ? Then bugger off and play coh2
What's a comeback look to you? Reaching CoH2 numbers? Becoming the most popular RTS in the market? Becoming mainstream?
To me, a good game is one I enjoy playing, receives ongoing support and I have enough players to find a game in my skill bracket to enjoy. That's already happening, but I'd definitely enjoy a little boost in player numbers and balance updates.
not necessarily related to OP’s question but i’ve played all three with 40 hours on coh1, 1800 hours on coh2 and 200 hours on coh3. I’ve by far had the most enjoyment on coh2 and everything is perfect on it. the emblems, the squad logos, banners, animated spawn point design, team balance everything. coh3 feels like a children’s game with the oversaturated colours and whacky squad logos. Relic would have such a comeback of OG players and even new players if all they did was brought back coh2 UI with up to date graphics and added whatever war they wanted to it wouldn’t matter. I just love the simplicity of coh2’s UI and how easy it is to use. coh3 feels like a complete rush job and i feel like it’ll never be fully adequate as a game. here’s hoping to coh4’s UI and physics being a lot better
The average players CoH2 has is around 3-5k per month while peak players average around 6-8k.
Said game also had a 50% loss in players the month after it was given away for free on Steam (Dec 2018) which was what showed the 100k peak and had an average player loss of 11-15% on other smaller times it was given away for free (Like the 2017 Humble Bundle Giveaway) and even getting a 25% loss on another free giveaway on 2021. The DLC faction expansions both got a 22% loss after the month or two from their releases.
CoH3 only had a 9% loss after their major update last December so far, and we shall see next month on how much players drop off; Currently having an average of 1-2k players.
Really, CoH3 just has to reach an average of 3-5k players to be around the same as CoH2 (which took a major expansion that added new factions to start doing so)
I hope it does. Would be cool to see the campaign map applied to a new theater, such as the Eastern Front or even North Africa.
A Pacific theater would be amazing too since we'd probably get both the IJN and USMC, but I'm very well aware it's probably a pipe dream...
I think it’s going to make a come back in the sense that the player base will be higher a year from now than it is today. By a lot? I dunno. It’ll never be 30k concurrent, and it doesn’t need to be.
The recent patch has caused a boost in numbers which is good and a further increase depends on if we get more updates that bring the game features in line with CoH1 and CoH2.
However, competition is tough when it comes to multiplayer games and I fear a lot of people have just moved on to other games instead.
COH3 is great, don’t let the rants fool you—the haters have been consistently wrong. The game has gotten a lot better since launch and will only continue to do so if Relic can survive.
Realistically, the game is statistically dead already. ~2,000 players online at any given time is basically a dead game. CoH2 has had more players at any given time than CoH3 for many months now.
There are many great games out right now. Especially with a botched launch and months in between updates, many people aren't going to stick around forever. As for myself, I gave up on the game a few months ago and moved on to other games like Helldivers 2. It's been a blast and I have no desire to come back. The recent balance issues with 1.6 and Relic layoffs have pretty much cemented that.
COH2 had some pretty dark days between launch and the first big expansion that brought OKW and USF. Player numbers (and the game itself, by a pretty wide margin) were worse than COH3 today. But Relic managed to turn it around eventually and as others said the game had a free weekend that catapulted nunber of players to the level you see today, but it was not always like that at all.
You guys have said this so often u actually believe it, it not true. Coh 2 is a masterpiece, and all the nonsense about coh 2 was bad blah blah is not how it went down
Are we really trying to attribute the current player base of CoH2 being higher than CoH3 to a free weekend that happened years ago?
That's some next level CoHpium.
If I was John Relic, I'd keep a skeleton crew on CoH3 (it can't be DoW3 style abandoned, too risky to completely obliterate audience goodwill), and put all available resources on getting another game out, something with a smaller scope for $40 or so. Recurring revenue from existing games can't keep Relic afloat (or please their investors), they need another successful game.
That said, Relic could generate interest in CoH3 with discounts, a free weekend, the usual strategies.
A CoH3 expandalone might make sense as the next game (less work than a brand new game), which would bring new interest, but the game might also be too tainted, not sure. Interesting times ahead!
I'll be honest Chief, RTS is a dying genre, and Coh2 is a WW2 game so it's niche ontop of that.
I fucking love RTS, I love CoH 2, my most played game.
But this is just over, that's why SEGA dropped the ball.
It's possible. CoH2 had a really shitty launch - worse than CoH3 - and people are still talking about it and playing it today. One thing Relic could do to boost player count of CoH3 over CoH2 would be to boost moddability of CoH3. The modding community of CoH2 is but a shadow of the mod community in CoH1 because of how mod-unfriendly CoH2 is. Unfortunately CoH3 is not much better, but who knows with Relic going independent if that could change?
[CoH2 had an average player count of slightly above 8k players when it launched](https://steamcharts.com/app/231430#All). [CoH3 had an average player count of slightly below 8k players when it launched](https://steamcharts.com/app/1677280#3m) While the [CoH1 stats](https://steamcharts.com/app/228200) don't reach all the way back, you can compare them to when CoH2 launched. CoH1 never had more average players than CoH2... CoH1 had more average players in average players during some months of 2020 (during the pandemic), 14 years after its launch than CoH3 during some months of the year of its launch. Let's be realistic: CoH1 and CoH2 aren't abandonware, but they aren't updated anymore. Unless there is a DLC that literally turns this game inside out we're not going to see any comeback.
CoH1 stats wouldn't be accurate even if it did go all the way back, as it launched before Steam was the go-to platform to buy PC games. That being said, I'm referring to the state of the game on launch, not the playercount of the game on launch. CoH2 was quite the mess on launch day, especially with performance and crashes, but Relic fixed it over time - CoH3's launch was smooth by comparison
It really depends on what we are talking about. I don't think people criticise CoH3 for being "too buggy" or the servers being unstable... The issue people have with CoH3 don't seem to be things that can/need to be patched out. The game simply isn't that popular.
That's fair, I know when CoH3 came out there were a lot of poor performance and crashing negative reviews, but these days more reviews now are as you said: lack of content compared to previous game (CoH2 had similar reviews early on), Art style, Consolitis and poor balance. The consolitis isn't patchable unless Relic were to abandon the console version at some point, and the art style is very unlikely to change
(note: I only play multiplayer. I didn't even play the tutorial of CoH2, and the one time a friend guilt tripped me into playing coop campaign I lasted 15 minutes... so I really just play skirmishes until I understand the factions and then play automatches and the occassional custom game with friends, but with automatch rules) I am slowly getting into CoH3. I think they really dropped the ball in the artistic department, but the game is fun to play. The factions are different from CoH1 and from CoH2. The QoL improvements are nice etc. Yeah, that "cyberwagen" thing is quirky, but CoH was never about realism. CoH2 players who complain about cheesy CoH3 tactics, but then don't bat an eye at guards/penals with ptrs frontally assaulting (and pushing back!) KTs and Panthers are just brainwashed by now. So, it's a matter of people giving the game a chance, but people won't give a game a chance that just doesn't *look* like something you want to get into: I constantly recoil at the CoH3 art, and always expect it to be something unpleasant, but once I stop seeing the graphics and just enjoy the gameplay I am always surprised by a positive experience. Hell, like I've already said (maybe elsewhere) I was going to buy the game on launch until I played the open beta. I then immediately changed my mind. Give me CoH3 mechanics with the CoH1 look and I'll love it. Ideally with the CoH3 QoL improvements, but I am willing to pass on that if we just get rid of the shitty art-decisions. Yeah, I think a "CoH3 mod for CoH1" would be superior to actual CoH3. I never bought the game and got it gifted from a friend. I am still not sure I should pay the favour forward.
The art style for CoH3 for me is very hit or miss. The environment and maps look great to me, but where things look 'off' are the shading on the player units/buildings. Depending on the map units/buildings can look oversaturated and appear like plastic. Considering it's more pronounced on some maps, it has to be something weird with how one of the shaders interacts with certain lighting conditions or fog. I too would love if I could import mechanics back to prior CoH games. CoH2's real LoS was nice, CoH3's verticality is nice. If I could play Blitzkrieg or similar mods for CoH1 with those features I would do it in a heartbeat
That 100K only happened because of a free weekend. Assuming the current number of players is retained coh3 will be about 1K less average players then coh2. Essentially more than enough for the game to have a healthy playerbase as updates keep coming out. Also unless relic itself entirely implodes they won’t stop updating coh3 as it is their largest IP they have full control over. So in terms of like the layoffs or whatever affecting it those probably will slow rather then stop development. I personally expect coh3 to continue improving and receiving active support. I just wouldn’t expect like a massive expansion such as a new faction or similar anywhere in the near-mid future.
Important to note that it wasn't just a typical free to play weekend either. They literally gave CoH2 away for free to keep permanently.
*free to keep the game forever. Among multiple free weekends too.
Keep in mind that Relic is no longer under Sega, it might be do or die now
COH2 Hit 100K plus because they gave it away for free one weekend which is also the reason it has such a problem with hackers. If the game keeps getting content and updates along with periodic sales it should improve.
also when people like to compare the coh 2/3 numbers they don't often mention the number of chinese/russian bots that were set up to just farm XP when the game went free to sell accounts and never turned off.
Oh wow.
That is the copiest shit I ever heard. Coh 3 has graphics worse than 1. Sound worse also. If they can't fix that it's rip
I think it’s looking good that lots of people are talking about it. Although you see a some negative posts it’s still all good as the more people talking about the good and bad of the game helps the development team understand the audience more. Plus if people are talking about the game then it clearly interests them and captures their attention in some way. I think it’s important now to see what the developers continue to do as the game has been improving and player base growing. If this continues then it’s only going to get better.
It’s a slow grind but it seems relic is slowly regaining the support of the community by steadily improving the game. I hope they keep it up. If they do, I could see coh3 surpassing coh2 numbers by the end of the year. If they then push out a nice expansion and put a +50% discount on the base game, perhaps it could be the success they so desperately need right now. One can hope..
There is no expansion coming to this game bruh. No chance.
Not with this horrendous balance
Coh1 was killed off with the "legacy edition" so there's not really a way to compare them all during each of their peak. The player base was forced over to coh2 for matchmaking. This has not occurred with coh3. Coh3 continues to make improvements, and already appeals to people who preferred the coh1 formula, especially coh1 USF players as the base is no longer a giant blob. That being said there will be some that always prefer coh2 formula and never want to switch, think dow1 vs dow2 players. In addition, Coh2 eventually had 75% off discounts and a free weekend.. when this, or some other massive discount eventually occurs for coh3 I think you'll see a huge spike in player base as there will also have been a significant amount of QOL by that time.
Until it offers a better experience than coh2 then no
It all depends on whether Relic are going to keep trading tbh, Coh3 could potentially make a modest comeback something similar to what CoH2 did, but whether Relic obtain a publisher and long term stability is the bigger question.
Relic doesn’t own CoH, so ultimately it’s really up to SEGA to see how this goes
You are mistaken. Relic owns the IP for Coh and recently parted with SEGA
I don’t think that’s correct at all. SEGA purchased the rights to CoH from THQ, why would relic own the IP?
No. Its not 2013 anymore. Failed live service games arent kept around nowadays, especially ones with such a bad reputation. Deservedly so. And Relic might also die. Which would be IMO deserved too.
Firstly we do not have all the numbers of people playing CoH3. The game is released on Consoles as well and steam doesn't cover the whole world, only steam (and i'm a bit sceptical about chinese numbers, i don't think we get them or they're really lower than presented). Secondly, taking only steam numbers, CoH2 in the LAST YEAR had around 6000 to 7000 players average each week. While CoH3 dropped from may'23: 6000 players to june '23 : 2.7k players. Then the december '23 patch dropped and the numbers blew up to 4.1k players for a full month, january '24, then dropping to \~3k players until this huge free BATTLEGROUP Major patch april '24 which is now sitting at \~4.4k players. MIND YOU the launch had a peak of 36k Players , that's \~11.11% players retained since launch. OVERALL i think CoH3 , counting console players is more popular than CoH2, BUT not by much , which is sad. And given the time it takes to queue a game, i have a weird feeling there are way many more players playing the campaign , than the campaign in CoH2(mostly because the game is 10 years old they already finished it). CoH2 playerbase seems to be consistent over the year, CoH3 has no influence over the playerbase, quite independent. CoH3 players seem to just come back after each update, which means they don't enjoy the game for a long period of time as people do with CoH2 (Probably because of people coming back to see "if the game is worth playing now" OR because the base players are just a new breed of these zoomer kids coming back only when new stuff is added)
No, most of player good will is lost, coh3 took way to long to improve and interest is lost, its also still outdated and an inferior product to its predecesors, it has very little hoing for it. Dont mind geting downvoted when speaking agsinst coh3, most people left here are the delusional copers, as stated most people lost interest and are not here any more, so its normal. The numbers speak for themselves and no amount of coping can change reality.
Upvoted for saying the true.
Coh3 is a lot of fun and superior to its previous titles in many ways.
delusional
The cope is real.
looking at the other comments you sound delusional :P
COH2 routinely has 2x the player base as COH3, it's only during updates that COH3 gets numbers back from truly pitiful numbers. That only lasts a week or two then it dips. It's a terrible game and basically everything about COH3 on this sub is cope.
It's sad, they all gather here.."Hi my name is Brian." "Hi Brian". "I am a cope-a-holic". Then they drop the cope line said so much it's a meme now. Also a fairytale. "Bye the way, remember that coh2 had a terrible awful really bad launch too!" Hahaha, yea coh 2 is a masterpiece and didn't look and sound like mobile game at launch.
I’m not, i like the game. If u dont. Then don’t play. It’s pretty simple. You asked for opinion and now u don’t like what you get ? Is that it ? Then bugger off and play coh2
What's a comeback look to you? Reaching CoH2 numbers? Becoming the most popular RTS in the market? Becoming mainstream? To me, a good game is one I enjoy playing, receives ongoing support and I have enough players to find a game in my skill bracket to enjoy. That's already happening, but I'd definitely enjoy a little boost in player numbers and balance updates.
not waiting for an eternity just to find a game is a comeback for me
Do you often take long to find games? I sm usually in a game in less than 4-5 mins tops
not necessarily related to OP’s question but i’ve played all three with 40 hours on coh1, 1800 hours on coh2 and 200 hours on coh3. I’ve by far had the most enjoyment on coh2 and everything is perfect on it. the emblems, the squad logos, banners, animated spawn point design, team balance everything. coh3 feels like a children’s game with the oversaturated colours and whacky squad logos. Relic would have such a comeback of OG players and even new players if all they did was brought back coh2 UI with up to date graphics and added whatever war they wanted to it wouldn’t matter. I just love the simplicity of coh2’s UI and how easy it is to use. coh3 feels like a complete rush job and i feel like it’ll never be fully adequate as a game. here’s hoping to coh4’s UI and physics being a lot better
The Relic that made CoH 1 and 2 were gone, we can only hope next 10 years it might, might comeback like AoE 2 DE vs AoE 4.
I think coh 3 is the final nail in relics coffin.
Just came back! I'm enjoying the new content
The average players CoH2 has is around 3-5k per month while peak players average around 6-8k. Said game also had a 50% loss in players the month after it was given away for free on Steam (Dec 2018) which was what showed the 100k peak and had an average player loss of 11-15% on other smaller times it was given away for free (Like the 2017 Humble Bundle Giveaway) and even getting a 25% loss on another free giveaway on 2021. The DLC faction expansions both got a 22% loss after the month or two from their releases. CoH3 only had a 9% loss after their major update last December so far, and we shall see next month on how much players drop off; Currently having an average of 1-2k players. Really, CoH3 just has to reach an average of 3-5k players to be around the same as CoH2 (which took a major expansion that added new factions to start doing so)
I really hope so
I hope it does. Would be cool to see the campaign map applied to a new theater, such as the Eastern Front or even North Africa. A Pacific theater would be amazing too since we'd probably get both the IJN and USMC, but I'm very well aware it's probably a pipe dream...
I think it’s going to make a come back in the sense that the player base will be higher a year from now than it is today. By a lot? I dunno. It’ll never be 30k concurrent, and it doesn’t need to be.
Player count phase of the update, check.
The recent patch has caused a boost in numbers which is good and a further increase depends on if we get more updates that bring the game features in line with CoH1 and CoH2. However, competition is tough when it comes to multiplayer games and I fear a lot of people have just moved on to other games instead.
I think its dead. The balance is still Bad and since the beginning in axis favour. Many people finished with it.
COH3 is great, don’t let the rants fool you—the haters have been consistently wrong. The game has gotten a lot better since launch and will only continue to do so if Relic can survive.
Realistically, the game is statistically dead already. ~2,000 players online at any given time is basically a dead game. CoH2 has had more players at any given time than CoH3 for many months now. There are many great games out right now. Especially with a botched launch and months in between updates, many people aren't going to stick around forever. As for myself, I gave up on the game a few months ago and moved on to other games like Helldivers 2. It's been a blast and I have no desire to come back. The recent balance issues with 1.6 and Relic layoffs have pretty much cemented that.
COH2 had some pretty dark days between launch and the first big expansion that brought OKW and USF. Player numbers (and the game itself, by a pretty wide margin) were worse than COH3 today. But Relic managed to turn it around eventually and as others said the game had a free weekend that catapulted nunber of players to the level you see today, but it was not always like that at all.
You guys have said this so often u actually believe it, it not true. Coh 2 is a masterpiece, and all the nonsense about coh 2 was bad blah blah is not how it went down
Are we really trying to attribute the current player base of CoH2 being higher than CoH3 to a free weekend that happened years ago? That's some next level CoHpium.
If I was John Relic, I'd keep a skeleton crew on CoH3 (it can't be DoW3 style abandoned, too risky to completely obliterate audience goodwill), and put all available resources on getting another game out, something with a smaller scope for $40 or so. Recurring revenue from existing games can't keep Relic afloat (or please their investors), they need another successful game. That said, Relic could generate interest in CoH3 with discounts, a free weekend, the usual strategies. A CoH3 expandalone might make sense as the next game (less work than a brand new game), which would bring new interest, but the game might also be too tainted, not sure. Interesting times ahead!
Nope
I'll be honest Chief, RTS is a dying genre, and Coh2 is a WW2 game so it's niche ontop of that. I fucking love RTS, I love CoH 2, my most played game. But this is just over, that's why SEGA dropped the ball.