Our colleagues at Gameinformer had a little chat with Phil Robb, one of the leading figures regarding the 4v1 shooter “Evolve”. In addition to discussing player attrition and the pricing policy of the DLCs, there was also talk about the bot hunters. We have filtered out the key information for you.
Challenges against player attrition, Evolve is expected to grow slowly
If you currently check the Steam list, Evolve fluctuates between 1700 and 3000 players playing simultaneously (and having their profiles public – so there are likely a few more). Compared to day 1, those are certainly disappointing numbers, but Robb does not see this as a major problem: Most big games are played a lot at the beginning and then drop off sharply, which is completely normal. Many plans are still in place for Evolve that will come to players in the coming months. The weekend challenges are just a small appetizer to provide incentives and distribute extra rewards.
Over the next few months, however, it is expected that the player numbers of Evolve will slowly and steadily increase because the game will become better and more extensive with more maturity time.
The pricing policy – satisfied with the set goals
Evolve has often been criticized for its DLC prices. Currently, a new hunter costs €7.50 and a monster a whopping €15. However, since each time a lot of content is provided and at the same time a significant amount of “depth” is added to the game, they are quite satisfied with the prices. Producing high-quality games is getting more expensive, and this is reflected in the DLC prices as well.
However, they are convinced that the content DLCs are worth every cent, as there is a lot of work involved. It’s not just a cosmetic upgrade like a skin or similar; each time, there is a whole new set of animations, art, balancing, etc. in the characters. Moreover, these DLCs do not exclude anyone, as even if one does not have a hunter or a monster, one can still play with or against them.
A.I. Hunters: Helpful as a team, concerning as lone wolves
The bots in Evolve are relatively solid. Especially when battling against 4 computer hunters as a monster, they perform at an acceptable level. However, this changes when a mixed group of bots and hunters collaborates. Programming bots so that everyone is satisfied with them (both the hunters and the monster – it should never be “unfair”) is a monumental task that will likely never be perfected.
Nonetheless, every effort is made to imitate human behavior as realistically as possible. However, since humans are “chaotic, irrational beings”, it is not always that simple.
If you haven’t checked Evolve in a few weeks, I recommend doing so again. The game now feels significantly rounder and more balanced than it did at launch – at least on PC. More about the asymmetrical online shooter can be found on our Evolve topic page.
Source: gameinformer.com
