Question: why do we think support will end?

dozensofraccoons

D
I’ve noticed that a pretty consistent trend on the forums is discussion of when support for PZ is going to wrap up on an official level, and it seems like people are even pretty confident that this will occur within a calendar year.
Does anyone have any concrete reason for this sentiment? I’m not familiar with Planet Coaster’s release cycle, which is the comparison that feels the most relevant. But from where I stand, Frontier’s making some pretty good cash on DLC sales from an extremely dedicated market. Genuinely wondering, and would love reference to sources if anyone has them. Thanks all!
 

FoxyDee

FoxyDee
I think most of it comes simply from assumptions based on the Planet Coasters life cycle. There is of course not any proof or confirmation on the Frontiers part.

There is also a weird fear going on that we dont have enough "star animals" whatever that means to carry more packs. I dont agree with this, but it is often presented like this here on the forums. Of course, as we get to more niche animals, there will be less and less recognizible animals for the general public, but I think most people that already purchased PZ would be interested to get to know new animals.
 

ElectricMonk

ElectricMonk
dozensofraccoons said:
I’ve noticed that a pretty consistent trend on the forums is discussion of when support for PZ is going to wrap up on an official level, and it seems like people are even pretty confident that this will occur within a calendar year.
Does anyone have any concrete reason for this sentiment? I’m not familiar with Planet Coaster’s release cycle, which is the comparison that feels the most relevant. But from where I stand, Frontier’s making some pretty good cash on DLC sales from an extremely dedicated market. Genuinely wondering, and would love reference to sources if anyone has them. Thanks all!
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People have been saying that support is ending soon since year 1. It’s been common ever since.
 

Captain Callum

Captain Callum
Two things which foxydee covered basically

  1. Planet coaster is the main basis of the whole support is ending because planet coaster only had 11 dlc packs (which I'd argue since 3 where basically an added ride and small scenery additions). Frontier is pretty secretive on whether development is actually continuing or not until well after the Devs have moved projects which was mentioned in the planet coaster forums a year after the last dlc I believe. Planet zoo has now 12 full dlc packs (again arguably 4 more than planet coaster) with the recent news of still being one of the strongest games of frontiers portfolio with zoo entering its 4th year of support this year. But think about it - a theme park game can only have so many content additions before it gets stale.
  2. Now star animals seems to be a delusion that we need iconic wow animals every single animal pack to make them appeal. Twilight did not, racoons and bats are far from star animals but the twilight dlc is the second most popular dlc selling in steam this week. We need to move away from the metawishlist which is a circlejerk at this point (imo) and need to look at unique interesting animals that the general audience can be familiar with. Go outwith dedicated players and you find more general people want petting zoos and marine life much more than a Tasmanian devil or kiwi
 

paul78

paul78
Star and headliner animals are made up hoopla. Almost any or at least plenty of animals currently missing from the game are more then capable of filling that void. I’m not necessarily a believer in the meta wishlist anymore either. Judging from the most wanted animal in 2023 topic in the forums there’s so many different choices it’s clear no one particular animal stands out with the exception of the pelican and devil maybe. As far as support ending after 2023 I guess it just depends on what frontier has coming in the future and how sales continue to sell. I’ve personally always been a believer that a zoo type game never gets old. I think almost twenty yrs in the zt2 community confirm this. There’s no shortage of animals to be added to the game so imo sales would always generate interest. But it probably is realistic to suspect support would end after 2023 but I sure hope it doesn’t. I believe this game could easily and effectively sell content up to 2025 no problems at all.
 

jcp011c

jcp011c
We don't know when support will end, but at some point it will. All things come to an end at some point, and video games generally have a short life cycle comparatively. Excluding The Sims series, Paradox games which have generally many years of support, and MMOs, most games don't get support more than 4 or 5 years.

I think overall though Planet Zoo has been a financial success and from what tidbits of information we get, continues to be. That bodes well for content for this full year. Who knows about next year. I'm more skeptical of 2024 content but could very well be wrong. Thinking though if we do get 2024 content they'll almost have to incorporate flying birds or fully marine animals (or both).

Also thinking, there have to be marketable animals headlining a pack, and how that is received by casual players. The Racoon and Armadillo may not have seemed like obvious choices to headline a pack, but they were the most generally well known of each of their packs. Frontier can always choose whatever animal they want to headline a pack, but there is no doubt some logic to how they choose. Going with what we don't have yet that fits in current game mechanics, the Walrus, Porcupine and Sloth are three well known and recognizable animals so they would be good choices. The Wolverine, Red River Hog and Tasmanian Devil aren't quite so well known, but in terms of being highly requested, they could potentially rely on them. After that, I'm not sure what other animals would be strong headliners for the casual players. Of course, flying birds and a fully marine pack would sell itself with give us another year or two of content just exploring that.

So yes, 2023 for sure. Maybe 2024, but I'd say 50/50 chance depending on what is released this year and how they profit. 2025 only if they include flying animals and marine animals.
 

paul78

paul78
I still say headliner and star of the pack theory is way overrated and irrelevant. The blue wildebeest (very underrated animal) could have headlined the pack and the pack would have sold fine. For anyone who doesn’t necessarily want a blue wildebeest there’s still every other animal in the pack. There’s easily 4-5 animals that could have headlined just as well as the armadillo. The raccoon headlined the twilight but there’s still the wombat, skunk, and red fox just as interesting imo not to mention the bat. The dromedary, baboon, black rhino, wolverine, porcupine, Secretary Bird, etc could all easily headline a pack not to mention the Andean bear and various primates just to name a few more. The list could literally go on and on. For every headlined animal that doesn’t catch someone’s eye another in the pack is guaranteed too so it simply doesn’t matter imo.
 

Karen F

K
We Cant know for sure, but I got a feeling this is the last year of support. I believe the most wanted animals and scenery can be provided this year. Should Frontier decide to add birds or fully aquatic animals, maybe another year.. afterwards it is just waiting for Planet zoo 2.
 

jcp011c

jcp011c
paul78 said:
I still say headliner and star of the pack theory is way overrated and irrelevant. The blue wildebeest (very underrated animal) could have headlined the pack and the pack would have sold fine. For anyone who doesn’t necessarily want a blue wildebeest there’s still every other animal in the pack. There’s easily 4-5 animals that could have headlined just as well as the armadillo. The raccoon headlined the twilight but there’s still the wombat, skunk, and red fox just as interesting imo not to mention the bat. The dromedary, baboon, black rhino, wolverine, porcupine, Secretary Bird, etc could all easily headline a pack not to mention the Andean bear and various primates just to name a few more. The list could literally go on and on. For every headlined animal that doesn’t catch someone’s eye another in the pack is guaranteed too so it simply doesn’t matter imo.
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I get where you're coming from, and agree, Frontier could literally pick any animal to be a headliner. But at some point there's a reason they do so. Most of the packs, they chose the animal that's probably the most well known to the general public, not just here, since we're probably not the majority of players; rather, I suspect that casual players are probably the majority and we just overrate our own importance.

For the most part, they've picked animals that are the most generally recognizable of the animals. The exceptions are the SEA pack and the NAAP - still good choices, and I'm guessing they went with the Sun bear because of the leak several months prior to that. No idea why they chose the beaver or the Sea Lion, Cougar or Moose, but they did.
 

KönigDerKaffeebohnen

K
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DragonNTiger

D
Are you asking why people think it will end soon? Or end eventually? I can't say about the former, but for the latter: because for the most part it is inevitable. With rare exception, support for a game eventually ends... as it stands, there's no reason to assume PZ will be any different.
 

Rajirrah

Rajirrah
I believe Planet Zoo is doing well enough it should go on until the platform it's built on needs a complete rework which would require a new game to be developed. Planet Zoo 2 is an obvious step. But this doesn't mean an end.
 

premierfong

premierfong
Captain Callum said:
Two things which foxydee covered basically

  1. Planet coaster is the main basis of the whole support is ending because planet coaster only had 11 dlc packs (which I'd argue since 3 where basically an added ride and small scenery additions). Frontier is pretty secretive on whether development is actually continuing or not until well after the Devs have moved projects which was mentioned in the planet coaster forums a year after the last dlc I believe. Planet zoo has now 12 full dlc packs (again arguably 4 more than planet coaster) with the recent news of still being one of the strongest games of frontiers portfolio with zoo entering its 4th year of support this year. But think about it - a theme park game can only have so many content additions before it gets stale.
  2. Now star animals seems to be a delusion that we need iconic wow animals every single animal pack to make them appeal. Twilight did not, racoons and bats are far from star animals but the twilight dlc is the second most popular dlc selling in steam this week. We need to move away from the metawishlist which is a circlejerk at this point (imo) and need to look at unique interesting animals that the general audience can be familiar with. Go outwith dedicated players and you find more general people want petting zoos and marine life much more than a Tasmanian devil or kiwi
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Callum, you are right, theme park has only so many content. Animals are unlimited, to be honest, IF Frontier steps PZ into Aviary and Marine territory, there are soooo much more they can do (or make $$$$$) Just Aviary and Marine itself and get maybe even new players. Even Animal hospital is a good idea, like any world class zoo is also a world class veterinary hospital.

In terms of graphics, I don't think we need better, whatever as is good already. Its not like we can run the game smoothly with current technology. A better graphics just make the game slower.
 

Bearcat9948

Bearcat9948
Well, I think we are in for another year of support as financially it seems to make sense for the company for the time being. It would seem that the ROI for resources invested vs revenue generated is still at a high enough level, and with F1 pretty much collapsing (as I figured it would when it was announced) they can use it as a crutch. As a publicly traded company, they are beholden to shareholders so axing a reliant revenue-generating product when one of your most recent investments has floundered, as well as economic downturn is on the horizon, doesn't really make sense.

That being said, I think this is the last year. 4 years is a very long time to see active support for a video game, and it will be 4 years in November.
 

Spartan_Squat

Spartan_Squat
I think like many said, people though the support would end after one year. This year we have more stuff, in 2024, Im not sure. But I have hopes for 2024 as the farewell year, that marks the 5th anniversary and if we have dlcs that year we will have 20 dlcs. I think frontier should expand some mechanics we had, for example the armadillo could use the natural termite mount, why not chimps, aardvarks could use it or the dall sheep use again ibex climbing mountain? Or tlc some of the first animals?
 

Pinguin

Pinguin
I think Frontier can go on as long as it is profitable for them, so I suggest anyone who would like to see the game continue to just support Frontier by buying packs, even ones that you think you dont need that much :). I bough all remaining packs i didnt have, even the ones that I only like few animals in it, just to show support, because I would like to see the game to continue. and there is not a rule that it has to end with year 4. there are games that support even for longer, so Frontier doesnt have to follow the 4 is enough. i will just keep posting my wishes and suggestion even if people will go like this will be last Dlc...I will keep posting to show Frontier we would still like game to continue and you should too. dont limit yourself with things like, ok we only have 4 dlcs left so here are 24 slots remaining or whatever.

i like many animals that people would consider niche and i hope we can get to them eventually.
 

premierfong

premierfong
Guys as long as it profitable, they will make it. What we fans should do is keep buying DLC AND keep helping Frontier promote this game so more new players. There is a big Chinese and Indian market, they LOVE zoos there.

If terms of finance, Froniter need this cash cow to help maintain the a stable amount of revenue to show investors, otherwise stocks will go down, and CEO will get no bonus.

Also look at City Skyline, it was released in 2015 still supporting and still releasing official and unofficial DLC of every type, there was a one released in Dec 22. From content to in game music. If Frontier is going this route, it would be PERFECT.

I hope support last forever.

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