DEADSIDE adds 100k new players in 7 days

Alex Nichiporchik

A week ago we launched DEADSIDE on Xbox Series S|X and PlayStation 5. This launch has added 100k new players to the game in 7 days.

About DEADSIDE

Players call it a merge of DayZ, PUBG, Rust, and other survival shooters. It's an open world sandbox where you loot up, build a base, go on missions, secure vehicles, and end up in extremely tense player v player (PVP) standoffs. There are no levels, RPG elements or anything like that. It's a true 1000 hour game, where you create your own definition of win. What sets it apart is accelerated progression. Players get loot fast.

Here are some quick takeaways a week after the console launch

We have added limited time trials on both Xbox and PS5, players can try the game for 2h for free
The 100k number includes everyone who started the trial or bought the game directly
While we won't comment on exact number of sales, the conversion rate from trial to paid game is steadily growing - reaching close to 20%
5% of players decide to buy the game before the trial is over
A significant portion of the audience just directly buys the game
We made a significant bet on performance, visuals, fast loading times, and making sure the console build isn't far behind the PC build
We enabled cross-play between consoles
The game reached its peak CCU on the weekend, overshadowing the original peak on Steam during the game's launch into Early Access a few years ago

CCU graph per platform. These do not stack. Note how CrossPlay servers are the most popular by far. CrossPlay servers include both Xbox and PS5 players.

The PC build just got its 1.3 update, introducing meaningful features such as new building tiers.

Meanwhile the console build is at the "1.0" state, so it's the build we released on PC in December. It will be skipping patches leading up to 1.3, and go directly into it. So the builds will be more or less in parity in terms of features by end of March.

Community Servers SNAFU

Where we absolutely messed up is not including community rented servers with custom rule sets on launch. We did not expect this level of demand for the console version, and had to panic scale up servers. The game doesn't use auto scaling services, instead everything is hosted on bear metal hardware creating a lot less dependencies. So through the weekend we kept running out of space. This is where community servers (that players can rent through our partners) would've helped a lot. On PC about half of the player base prefers community servers, so this is coming to console asap.

CrossPlay is King

We're getting a lot of praise from the community because independent of which console they use, they can play together. This is clearly visible in the server loads.

True 4K at 60 FPS

The original DEADSIDE for PC was designed to run on a toaster. So it easily handles 4K at 60FPS on Series X and PS5. This is at high visual settings, including draw distance.

Fast Loading Times & Progression

One of the biggest issues with survival games on both PC and consoles is long loading times. Even on an SSD. We made sure you get into games fast. This goes together with fast progression in the gameplay itself. It's an open world survival shooter with brutal PVP and raiding, but you get weapons fast. Many are comparing it to the feeling they had when first playing PUBG, but it an open persistent world (vs session based battle royale).

Why No Cross Play between PC & Console?

We get this question a lot. PC-Console cross play makes a lot of sense for more PVE-focused games, and here console players would be at a significant disadvantage for a PVP shooter. Plus, we want to keep flexibility on rapid patches for PC, as console builds take quiet a lot more work to deploy.

Modding: next step for PC

The next big step for PC is going to be a modkit. We are developing it with PC in mind, and if it gets enough traction we will consider bringing popular mods to consoles.

Closing thoughts in the context of the industry

Developers reading this post: please don't rush to invest significant resources into replicating this. The game had 5 years of time to iterate on PC to find a good balance of retaining existing players and attracting new ones. When we launched into 1.0, some of the existing player base really didn't like our decisions, which the stats showed were correct after the launch. If your game is, however, retaining players for hundreds of hours and is multiplayer, the strategy described here could make sense. The PC build needs to be pretty great first.

A huge thank you from the team

On behalf of BadPixel, a huge thank you to the console community for such a warm reception. Porting games like this takes a monumental effort, and we're happy with the results. Standby for the console build to catchup with PC.