For no particular reason I've been observing the steam charts for FH4 and FH5 for the last few months and the information is interesting.
FH4
FH5
Both games tend to peak in concurrent players in the mornings (Pacific Time, I think) which makes sense in that its the time when both North America and Europe would have the most overlap in players.
More curiously, FH4 has a higher daily peak and a lower trough whereas FH5 tends to have less players but is more steady. I wonder if this is simply the case that more people own FH4? I doubt this because the all-time peak concurrent players of FH5 is
double that of FH4 and FH4 did not get a steam release until well after it's initial launch. Either way, I'm surprised to see FH4 has more average and peak players than FH5 considering how old FH4 is and the fact that it isn't receiving any updates beyond the seasonal stuff. Perhaps the actual change in season has made FH4 a more compelling long term play? Yet it seems people tend to play FH4 for shorter durations than FH5. Maybe people are jumping on for a race or two for the daily/weekly goals and then closing out?
I wonder if Microsoft is satisfied with the engagement metrics of FH5? The optimistic side of me would think that these numbers would encourage them to change the formula for the next title to boost engagement.
Huge caveat - This is steam, a totally different userbase from console and probably not the audience the game is chiefly aimed at. Is there any publicly available XB user numbers?
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