For years, survival games have been one of the most successful genres in gaming – especially on Steam. However, no game has yet managed to claim the title of the “King of Survival MMOs.” What is the reason for this? And can the new Sons of the Forest secure this title? MeinMMO editor and survival expert Benedict Grothaus is searching for an answer.
Survival games are huge. Not just as individual games, but as a genre in general. I see this every time a corresponding game is announced or released.
Valheim, for instance, became an absolute hit on Steam in 2021. When I introduced Return to Moria, the response from you here on MeinMMO and even outside of it was enormous. And no matter what we do with survival games: almost always there are dozens of people wanting to talk about them.
For years, there has been a huge potential here that hardly any larger studio has addressed. The biggest survival games on Steam are all projects of indie studios. According to steamcharts, the peak players in February are:
- 167,827 for Rust
- 87,273 for ARK: Survival Evolved
- 63,040 for DayZ
- 50,955 for Terraria
- 40,703 for 7 Days to Die
On top of this are other titles like Valheim or Conan Exiles, which also deliver thousands of players. If there were a game that united all fans of the genre, it could pose a significant competition to some of the leaders on Steam like Dota 2.
But that’s exactly what is missing. A game that claims the entire market of players in the genre like WoW did in 2004 simply does not exist in survival.
Now comes Sons of the Forest and before release is the most wished-for game on Steam. Does the new game have a chance to claim the title of “the survival hit” that everyone plays? No, probably not. But …
All information about Sons of the Forest can be found here in the video in a sleek 2 minutes:
Sons of the Forest will not be the king, but the kingmaker
What I know so far about Sons of the Forest sounds really good. NPC companions, a new building system and a gripping story. Nevertheless, it remains an indie game from a developer that hardly communicates outwardly.
I do not wish to list all the details of Sons of the Forest here. You can read the most important content in the hub:
The Twitter channel is virtually dead, the last status of the website talks about a trademark from 2017, other social media or Discord are also not used. Then Sons of the Forest is only coming for PC, neither for PS5 nor for Xbox. That is not enough to become an absolute hit. Not anymore in 2023.
Despite this, Sons of the Forest will definitely be a success. It is mainly the most wished-for title because the predecessor was already so popular. The Forest is one of the best survival games ever.
But what is even more important: other games can learn from Sons of the Forest. One of the reasons why The Forest was already so popular, why ARK can remain relevant for so long and why Valheim became so successful, is the combination of survival elements with story.
Instead of simply providing a sandbox, as Rust and DayZ do, Sons of the Forest and Co. offer a story that you can follow while playing. And in the case of The Forest, even with different endings.
This element is something that survival games have been lacking to this day: a story that underlies the world. The story is one of the reasons why WoW was considered the pinnacle of the MMORPG market for so long.
Sons of the Forest will not be the king of survival MMOs. The studio is too small for that, and the game is likely to see little further development after early access ends.
However, if large studios now look at what makes Sons of the Forest so popular, it could lead to us potentially having a survival stronghold by 2024. And indeed, several studios are currently working to claim that title for themselves.
2023 is bringing a lot of potential survival hits your way. Gameplay of the 5 most promising can be found here:
An ever-growing genre: Even Blizzard is now making survival
The fact that developers and publishers have recognized the potential of survival games is demonstrated by the development of the recent past and the near future. Even big names are now entering the genre and trying to grab a little of the huge player base.
Blizzard, for example, who have dominated the MMORPG market with WoW for years, are now planning a new survival game. There are not too many details yet, but we already know that the size of the team was doubled in 2022 and even the former head of Far Cry is now working on the title.
I have analyzed Blizzard’s decision earlier with similar arguments:
The new game shows that Blizzard recognizes the potential of survival games and is now using many resources to be successful here. And they are not the only ones.
2023 is going to be a pretty crazy year for survival fans. Big titles like ARK 2 and STALKER 2 are on the way and many indie studios are also deciding to release a survival game this year.
Even veterans of the genre continue to work on dominating the market. Funcom, for example, behind Conan Exiles, are planning a whole new type of survival MMO with Dune: Awakening. Dune: Awakening will be more like an MMORPG and could redefine the genre by simulating a living world.
The survival market is still dominated by indie projects, some of which have been around for years. It is unlikely that one of these will become the first survival king. They can, however, serve as a springboard for the big publishers:
2 “small” indie games on Steam do one thing much better than the big AAA titles
