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How many people play STO?

picardtheiiipicardtheiii Member Posts: 151 Arc User
edited February 2013 in Star Trek Online General Discussion
Hello fellow Captains!!!

I'm creating this thread out of a desire to actually understand the "true" number of players that enjoy STO.

We have heard a few things from the DEVS about "total number of captains" and that this game is "larger" than CHAMPS, but I feel that some real info is still lacking.

Obviously in a "F2P" game the number of accounts is rather irrelevant.

Something along the lines of max concurrent players or total payed subscriptions (excluding LTS that haven't logged in for the last 30 days) would be more relevant.

Tonight I saw 4 instances of Qonos or so for about ~300 players and I saw ESD at about 10x that or about 3000.

I looked in the PVE Q and other such lists and saw in a generous manner about 500. Throw in DS9, space dock and other places I think maybe a couple more thousand.

Evening in the USA I think concurrent users are ~10k as a very generous number. Anyone else have an opinion? Thanks.
Post edited by picardtheiii on
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    taergontaergon Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Why ask for an opinion over a fact that nobody knows?
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    disposeableh3r0disposeableh3r0 Member Posts: 1,927 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    5, there are 5 players. we are all just constructs in an mmo called "earth" and there are ony 5 sentient beings out side of it.
    As a time traveller, Am I supposed to pack underwear or underwhen?

    Not everything you see on the internet is true - Abraham Lincoln

    Occidere populo et effercio confractus
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    user839020189287user839020189287 Member Posts: 291 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    You will be lucky to get a quoted figure and highly doubt DStahl will go on the record to clarify.

    Damage control is in effect since the Feb 14 th patch.

    He cited "2 million starship captains" in an interview but never made the distinction of whether it was accounts or characters. The time to be specific was, then, during the interview and since he was vague, do not expect an answer, imo.

    Opinion is wholly based upon past and present performance by Mr. Stahl and his being not-so forthright on matters such as these.

    Soon-trademark, no doubt.
    "Dammit J'mpok! I'm a Warrior, not a Worrier!"

    - KDF Ambassador Syon vocalizing her objection to the discussions of possible peace talks with the UFP due to recent Borg and Undine activities.     Hegh'bat, Stardate 66588.8
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    picardtheiiipicardtheiii Member Posts: 151 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    user839020189287 wrote: »
    You will be lucky to get a quoted figure and highly doubt DStahl will go on the record to clarify.

    Damage control is in effect since the Feb 14 th patch.

    He cited "2 million starship captains" in an interview but never made the distinction of whether it was accounts or characters. The time to be specific was, then, during the interview and since he was vague, do not expect an answer, imo.

    Opinion is wholly based upon past and present performance by Mr. Stahl and his being not-so forthright on matters such as these.

    Soon-trademark, no doubt.

    I think he did clarify that it was accounts and not captains to be fair.

    Still totally irrelevant since anyone can create an account... and prolly not lost on him :P but still to be fair I think he did say that.
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    disposeableh3r0disposeableh3r0 Member Posts: 1,927 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    It's also clear from that infographic that tribbles play the most STO.

    I for one welcome out new tribble overlords.
    As a time traveller, Am I supposed to pack underwear or underwhen?

    Not everything you see on the internet is true - Abraham Lincoln

    Occidere populo et effercio confractus
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    dma1986dma1986 Member Posts: 541 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    picardtheiii wrote: »
    Evening in the USA I think concurrent users are ~10k as a very generous number. Anyone else have an opinion? Thanks.

    No idea how many active players there are, but it'd be nice if the launcher had an "x amount of players online now" box like EvE has. It still won't tell us exactly how many players it has in total, but you can see how busy the game is at certain times and take rough estimates from that by taking the counts from various timezones' peak hours.
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    mrwuffausmrwuffaus Member Posts: 44 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    well I for one will say I love the game, they are making new sectors and new missions, content etc. I started playing this game and i originally was paying for membership in 6 month blocks I think at the time, but I decided to buy a life time membership mainly because I want star trek online to be around for a long time. I have never paid for membership on any of the other world wide online games before, but since I love star trek and this game to me is gr8 I will try always to support it. I often buy ZEN etc to try to show my support for the game and so far I think it is working since they now opened up the romulan sector, and even got the actor for TASHA yar to do a voice for a mission they just added.

    Anyway yeah startrek rules
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    user839020189287user839020189287 Member Posts: 291 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    picardtheiii wrote: »
    I think he did clarify that it was accounts and not captains to be fair.

    Source?

    Until I see it written...
    "Dammit J'mpok! I'm a Warrior, not a Worrier!"

    - KDF Ambassador Syon vocalizing her objection to the discussions of possible peace talks with the UFP due to recent Borg and Undine activities.     Hegh'bat, Stardate 66588.8
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    ussdelphin2ussdelphin2 Member Posts: 525 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    It does not really matter, if the game didn't have enough players.. and that's players that spend money then the game would not be here........... but it is still here so it has lots of players that spend money via subs/C-store so I don't see a need to know how many active accounts the game has.
    How I picture a lot of the forumites :P
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    user839020189287user839020189287 Member Posts: 291 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    ussdelphin2 wrote: »
    so I don't see a need to know how many active accounts the game has.

    But when being on the record and citing numbers without being fully specific could be construed in a negative fashion. Big difference between accounts and characters but I guess it doesn't matter what he says when dealing with a MMO community who just throw their money at a company and hope for the best.
    "Dammit J'mpok! I'm a Warrior, not a Worrier!"

    - KDF Ambassador Syon vocalizing her objection to the discussions of possible peace talks with the UFP due to recent Borg and Undine activities.     Hegh'bat, Stardate 66588.8
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    snoggymack22snoggymack22 Member Posts: 7,084 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I'd say a few thousand people play the game. The rest is all just made up puffery from Cryptic's notoriously bad PR crew.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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    rdm1958rdm1958 Member Posts: 822 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    it would be interesting to know how many players there are.

    in a similar post i had asked about the number of fleets that are active, number of fleets that failed, % of fleets by large, medium and small, etc.

    after much research i determined the answer was not to be had. probably the same with the number of players.
    http://startrek.44thfleet.com/
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    cptvanorcptvanor Member Posts: 274 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    snoggymack22 wrote: »
    I'd say a few thousand people play the game.

    There was over 12k people in queue when the Anniversary event started, so there's more then a 'few thousand' people playing this game.
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    snoggymack22snoggymack22 Member Posts: 7,084 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    cptvanor wrote: »
    There was over 12k people in queue when the Anniversary event started, so there's more then a 'few thousand' people playing this game.

    That isn't supported by what Jack Emmert said. So I don't know if I find that information reliable.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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    cptvanorcptvanor Member Posts: 274 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    snoggymack22 wrote: »
    That isn't supported by what Jack Emmert said

    I'm not sure what Jack said, and I'm not sure how much stock I'd put in it. But there were plenty of threads here with people complaining about their spot in the line. At one point people were saying they had around 12k people in line, which doesn't include all the people playing the game.
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    darkjeffdarkjeff Member Posts: 2,590 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Also note that those were at worst semi-retired players. It doesn't really attract people who have actually quit.
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    syberghostsyberghost Member Posts: 1,711 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    cptvanor wrote: »
    I'm not sure what Jack said, and I'm not sure how much stock I'd put in it. But there were plenty of threads here with people complaining about their spot in the line. At one point people were saying they had around 12k people in line, which doesn't include all the people playing the game.

    According to people in the REDALERT channel at the time, the queue exceeded 14.7k at one point.

    There are over 2,000 on from Steam clients alone as we speak, and this is far from a peak activity time. Peak Steam concurrency has exceeded 2,500 this morning. Again, that's CONCURRENT, not totals.

    Of course, most people don't play via Steam. For example, EVE shows 831 people on via Steam right now, and I bet actual concurrency in game is more like 3,000. (Can't check right now.)

    If ratios are similar (and I have no reason to believe they are or aren't), that would imply over 5,000 playing at the moment, with the majority of the US playerbase at work or in school.
    Former moderator of these forums. Lifetime sub since before launch. Been here since before public betas. Foundry author of "Franklin Drake Must Die".
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    neoakiraiineoakiraii Member Posts: 7,468 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    disposeableh3r0 wrote: »
    5, There Are 5 Players. We Are All Just Constructs In An Mmo Called "earth" And There Are Ony 5 Sentient Beings Out Side Of It.

    There Are Four Light!!!
    GwaoHAD.png
  • Options
    thedoctorblueboxthedoctorbluebox Member Posts: 749 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    picardtheiii wrote: »
    Hello fellow Captains!!!

    I'm creating this thread out of a desire to actually understand the "true" number of players that enjoy STO.

    We have heard a few things from the DEVS about "total number of captains" and that this game is "larger" than CHAMPS, but I feel that some real info is still lacking.

    Obviously in a "F2P" game the number of accounts is rather irrelevant.

    Something along the lines of max concurrent players or total payed subscriptions (excluding LTS that haven't logged in for the last 30 days) would be more relevant.

    Tonight I saw 4 instances of Qonos or so for about ~300 players and I saw ESD at about 10x that or about 3000.

    I looked in the PVE Q and other such lists and saw in a generous manner about 500. Throw in DS9, space dock and other places I think maybe a couple more thousand.

    Evening in the USA I think concurrent users are ~10k as a very generous number. Anyone else have an opinion? Thanks.

    No one knows that answer to your question because normal players are not privy to that information. Only Cryptic can answer that question for you.
    Brent Justice
    JustGaming4US - https://www.youtube.com/user/JustGaming4Us/
    Twitter - https://twitter.com/Brent_Justice
    Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/brentjustice
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    crusty8maccrusty8mac Member Posts: 1,381 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I'm pretty sure there is more than one player. Does that help?
    __________________________________
    STO Forum member since before February 2010.
    STO Academy's excellent skill planner here: Link
    I actually avoid success entirely. It doesn't get me what I want, and the consequences for failure are slim. -- markhawman
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    syberghostsyberghost Member Posts: 1,711 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    syberghost wrote: »
    According to people in the REDALERT channel at the time, the queue exceeded 14.7k at one point.

    There are over 2,000 on from Steam clients alone as we speak, and this is far from a peak activity time. Peak Steam concurrency has exceeded 2,500 this morning. Again, that's CONCURRENT, not totals.

    Of course, most people don't play via Steam. For example, EVE shows 831 people on via Steam right now, and I bet actual concurrency in game is more like 3,000. (Can't check right now.)

    If ratios are similar (and I have no reason to believe they are or aren't), that would imply over 5,000 playing at the moment, with the majority of the US playerbase at work or in school.

    Derp, dunno what I was thinking there. My estimate on EVE was off by a factor of 10.

    There are 45k people on EVE right now, with Steam showing 871. That would give an estimate of 102k in STO right now, and I'm not for one second believing that, so I'm gonna say a lot higher percentage of STO players are in Steam than are EVE players.

    Which is consistent with the fact STO is free in the Steam store, and EVE costs money, and most people playing EVE already had it before it came to Steam; so an STO player is more likely to download it and play an existing account than an EVE player is.

    Or I could be completely wrong and there could be 102,000 people online in STO right now. I have trouble believing it, though. There aren't enough accounts in total to support those kinds of concurrency numbers in non-peak times.
    Former moderator of these forums. Lifetime sub since before launch. Been here since before public betas. Foundry author of "Franklin Drake Must Die".
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    jornadojornado Member Posts: 918 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I'm not sure why so many on these forums are in the "sky is falling" mode. I've played dying MMOs - one of which easily has under 1k players total and has been running on that margin, profitably, for several years. STO its not a dead or dying MMO in my opinion. Zone channels almost everywhere are as active, if not more active, since I started playing a couple years back,

    This game still has a huge active staff, another indicator of a successful, and hence active MMO. The MMO I previously mentioned has a staff of12 or so with a few occasional freelancers, for the last several years.

    The sky is not falling on STO...at least not yet. A conservative estimate, based only on experience with MMOs, and completely subjective, including off-again-on-again players, with summer as the peak, is about 30-50k players actually active, with well over 100k if you count those who have STO installed but only play once in a blue moon.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    lored2death wrote: »
    My guess is "hope" keeps people not playing but posting on the forums. For others, its a path of sad realization and closure. Grieving takes time. The worst "haters" here love the game, or did at some point.
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    solidneutroniumsolidneutronium Member Posts: 510 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    jornado wrote: »
    I'm not sure why so many on these forums are in the "sky is falling" mode. I've played dying MMOs - one of which easily has under 1k players total and has been running on that margin, profitably, for several years. STO its not a dead or dying MMO in my opinion. Zone channels almost everywhere are as active, if not more active, since I started playing a couple years back,

    This game still has a huge active staff, another indicator of a successful, and hence active MMO. The MMO I previously mentioned has a staff of12 or so with a few occasional freelancers, for the last several years.

    The sky is not falling on STO...at least not yet. A conservative estimate, based only on experience with MMOs, and completely subjective, including off-again-on-again players, with summer as the peak, is about 30-50k players actually active, with well over 100k if you count those who have STO installed but only play once in a blue moon.
    Yeah, the sky wasn't falling in CoH either until it did fall. I'm just putting that out there, not saying it's happening here.
    Professional Slider Since 2409

    Officially Nerfed In Early 2410
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    neoakiraiineoakiraii Member Posts: 7,468 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    solidneutronium wrote: »
    Yeah, the sky wasn't falling in CoH either until it did fall. I'm just putting that out there, not saying it's happening here.


    Cool so STO has 5 years to go then.
    GwaoHAD.png
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    daveynydaveyny Member Posts: 8,227 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    What ever number ya get...

    +1 for me. :D
    STO Member since February 2009.
    I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
    Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
    upside-down-banana-smiley-emoticon.gif
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    solidneutroniumsolidneutronium Member Posts: 510 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    neoakiraii wrote: »
    Cool so STO has 5 years to go then.
    Let's hope so.
    Professional Slider Since 2409

    Officially Nerfed In Early 2410
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    snoggymack22snoggymack22 Member Posts: 7,084 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    neoakiraii wrote: »
    Cool so STO has 5 years to go then.

    5 years from now, the KDF will still be incomplete.

    Romulan Playable Species will still be waiting for a D'Deridex lockbox ship.

    They'll have made one new featured episode.

    And the cloaking bug will still exist.

    That's why people think the sky is falling.

    ;)
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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    neoakiraiineoakiraii Member Posts: 7,468 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    snoggymack22 wrote: »
    5 years from now, the KDF will still be incomplete.

    Romulan Playable Species will still be waiting for a D'Deridex lockbox ship.

    They'll have made one new featured episode.

    And the cloaking bug will still exist.

    That's why people think the sky is falling.

    ;)

    So nothing new both in game and on the forums...yay.

    Unless you're in Russia the Sky is falling.
    GwaoHAD.png
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    crypticarmsmancrypticarmsman Member Posts: 4,115 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    solidneutronium wrote: »
    Yeah, the sky wasn't falling in CoH either until it did fall. I'm just putting that out there, not saying it's happening here.

    NCSoft's decision to sunset CoX had MANY more factors behind it then just player population. One major one was 'Paragon Studios' was their only directly funded by NCSoft; full development studio NOT in Asia (meaning operating costs were higher); and Paragon was working on an NCSoft MMO that only existed in the Western MMO market (the did have a CoH Korean port, but that shutdown due to lack of players in Asia less then twon years after it released.) In the end, NCSoft wanted to refocus on their Asian market; and just do ports and text localization to other markets -- and they felt Paragon and CoX didn't have a good enough ROI. NCSoft also owns the CoX IP lock stock and barrel (Cryptic sold it to them, along with the rights to use/modify the version of their game engine it used in perpetuity)

    Now, COULD PWI make a similar decision to refocus its efforts into its home markets one day? Sure. that would probably mean the dissolution of PWE (their Western Market arm); and divestiture of its holding (Cryptic, Runic Games <-- they do Torchlight and Torchlight II); but, given PWI stated they wanted to EXPAND their brand into the Western market -- and both STO (and CBS seems happy with the games performance as they continue to do articles, and STO fiction in their Star Trek magazine; and STO related guest blogs on sytartrek.com), and the Torchlight game are doing really well -- that they're ramping up to release 'NeverWinter; and even the CO community manager say Champions Online claims that game is still profitable for them -- it doesn't appear PWI is considering such a policy shift.

    Could the situation change? Sure, but I don't think STO is in danger of sunsetting (or seeing CBS pull the ST MMO IP rights from Cryptic) anytime soon.
    Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012
    TOS_Connie_Sig_final9550Pop.jpg
    PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
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    lterlter Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Those 2 millions captains from the aniversary promo are probably registered accounts, copies sold from the original format and users registered into STO since the F2P launch. Considering that in comparsion with other MMO's numbers, the average of actual active players could something be about 50.000.

    This isnt bad at all, taking a very close example: Battlestar Galactica Online has almost 20 millions registered accounts, but by first hand I know it has about 50.000 active players, maybe a little bit more, but that's all. That considering that Battlestar Galactica is suppored in more than 10 languages and it has much more advertising.


    For STO, only suported in 3 languages and almost without advertising, 50.000 active players from 2.000.000 accounts its a good number.
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