The Profitability of Planet Zoo

[SpookDoc]

Hi all! Lately there seems to be a lot of conversation happening in the Planet Zoo community on what the lifespan of the game may be and what its future will look like. For me I think the answer obviously lies in how much profit Frontier has made from the game. With this being said, I tried looking around online for some statistics on how Planet Zoo and its dlc’s have done over time but wasn’t able to find much info. Does anyone know how sells have been for the game and its dlc’s since their release? Additionally, I am curious to know how Planet Zoo has been doing in comparison to Planet Coaster and its dlc sells over time. If I remember correctly, Planet Coaster received updates and dlc for three years after release. If Planet Zoo’s numbers match or exceed those of Planet Coaster’s, I would think that maybe Planet Zoo would have a similar if not longer lifespan, but perhaps I’m wrong. What do you all think?

Also if this is the wrong place to discuss such matters my apologies. Please move the thread if it’s an issue! Thanks

 

[Swjosdotschka]

All I could find are the initial sales for the base game and those seem to be better than Frontier expected:

Planet Zoo is a fast-moving hit for Frontier with one million sales

That’s a lot of hungry animals Frontier Developments has reported over a million sales for Planet Zoo as of “early...

www.destructoid.com

However, if that is true, it's even harder to understand fr me why PZ is treated like a byproduct of PC and not the same resources are used for it.
I didn't check it myself, but what YouTubers have explained to me is ,that player engagement (e.g. playtime in game) and interest in the game in general dropped drastically down the road and the hype after a new DLC only holds for 4 weeks the most. So on this regard, PZ is behind it's expectations - and to be honest, in my opinion that's not the games fault but Frontiers.

 

[Sclurp]

All I could find are the initial sales for the base game and those seem to be better than Frontier expected:

Planet Zoo is a fast-moving hit for Frontier with one million sales

That’s a lot of hungry animals Frontier Developments has reported over a million sales for Planet Zoo as of “early...

www.destructoid.com

However, if that is true, it's even harder to understand fr me why PZ is treated like a byproduct of PC and not the same resources are used for it.
I didn't check it myself, but what YouTubers have explained to me is ,that player engagement (e.g. playtime in game) and interest in the game in general dropped drastically down the road and the hype after a new DLC only holds for 4 weeks the most. So on this regard, PZ is behind it's expectations - and to be honest, in my opinion that's not the games fault but Frontiers.

I think Frontier's DLC model does their base games no favours because there's always that little something that's missing from their base games and you'd hope that future content would offer more gameplay opportunities but they rarely do.

I'll give Frontier credit in this respect: they took on a lot with Planet Coaster and really pushed the genre forward with the tools and and freedom that game afforded the player. It's fine it didn't tick every box. I can also get over things like weather etc not being able to work in the game due to engine/hardware constraints (for now...if Planet Coaster 2 doesn't feature weather, then it's divorce), however the DLC needed to change up the gameplay to enrich the overall experience. What we got was many nice things to use in the gameplay loop that was already established.

In Planet Zoo's case this is pretty much the same deal. Base game set in stone, tweaked a little with some updates, DLC is small in scale and offers no meaningfully new way to engage in the gameplay. But instead you can now build using this new theme, that'll hold your interest for a little bit...That new animal is cool, you'll put it in every zoo you create but ultimately you are not enjoying the game in a way you haven't before...So in the case of PZ, it's the same thing you were playing a year ago. With PC, years ago.

Props to Frontier for adding more scenarios and different types of scenarios but I want something that's going to give me new challenges in the day-to-day of my zoo. I want to have new tools or means to approach challenges that occur in my zoo. With a healthy sprinkling of chaos - the unexpected experiences that organically should come out of playing this genre of game but never really do in PZ. Once you know how to prevent escapes/ protesters, you really don't ever have to think about the running of your zoo...not even cash flow because it's so easy to make money.

 

[NL_Mutso]

https://www.frontier.co.uk/investors/annual-and-interim-reports

Player numbers for all titles continue to expand strongly, through active player-community management, additional free and chargeable content, price promotions and expansions onto new platforms and channels:

- Planet Zoo, which released in November 2019, has achieved record performance on PC in its first 15 months, surpassing 1.5 million base game units sold. Paid content packs including the Arctic, South America, Australia, and Aquatic packs have proved to be popular, as expected

Planet Zoo, which launched in November 2019 exclusively on PC, has been record-breaking for Frontier in its first 15 months, selling more base game units on PC and generating more revenue on PC than any of Frontier’s previous titles during an equivalent time period on that platform. The player community for Planet Zoo continued to grow during the first half of FY21 and also during the important festive December trading period, which falls into the second half of FY21. Base game unit sales have now surpassed 1.5 million units. Our catalogue of PDLC packs for Planet Zoo continues to evolve with five packs now available - the Australia Pack launched in August 2020 during H1 FY21 and the Aquatic Pack released in December 2020, just into H2 FY21.

I would recommend reading it for yourself, so you can make your own mind up.
The information Swjos got from Youtubers does not reflect the investors report.
For statistics, there's isn't much to go from. There are sites like Steamdb, that give an impression of popularity (the 24 hour peak is a nice indicator)

but I wouldn't rely on influencers/content creators on info. (people claim certain games are dead for years, they just do it for the clicks)
Always visit the source yourself, especially with publicly traded companies really easy

 

[Swjosdotschka]

I think Frontier's DLC model does their base games no favours because there's always that little something that's missing from their base games and you'd hope that future content would offer more gameplay opportunities but they rarely do.

I'll give Frontier credit in this respect: they took on a lot with Planet Coaster and really pushed the genre forward with the tools and and freedom that game afforded the player. It's fine it didn't tick every box. I can also get over things like weather etc not being able to work in the game due to engine/hardware constraints (for now...if Planet Coaster 2 doesn't feature weather, then it's divorce), however the DLC needed to change up the gameplay to enrich the overall experience. What we got was many nice things to use in the gameplay loop that was already established.

In Planet Zoo's case this is pretty much the same deal. Base game set in stone, tweaked a little with some updates, DLC is small in scale and offers no meaningfully new way to engage in the gameplay. But instead you can now build using this new theme, that'll hold your interest for a little bit...That new animal is cool, you'll put it in every zoo you create but ultimately you are not enjoying the game in a way you haven't before...So in the case of PZ, it's the same thing you were playing a year ago. With PC, years ago.

Props to Frontier for adding more scenarios and different types of scenarios but I want something that's going to give me new challenges in the day-to-day of my zoo. I want to have new tools or means to approach challenges that occur in my zoo. With a healthy sprinkling of chaos - the unexpected experiences that organically should come out of playing this genre of game but never really do in PZ. Once you know how to prevent escapes/ protesters, you really don't ever have to think about the running of your zoo...not even cash flow because it's so easy to make money.

Perfectly put and that's why I said, it's basically Frontiers fault that the game doesn't hold players for long. If you are not a builder the game gets boring rather fast. And while I am a builder, I also would like to actually play my zoos more and enjoy them.

 

[raf8655]

Unfortunately it is turning into a great lost opportunity,
many things could be improved and easily included in the game, but it has not happened and most likely will not happen.

 

[paul78]

I could be wrong but I could very well see frontier taking their time with this game honestly. Besides some added features down the road this game has no major flaws. Planet coaster was hindered by the cobra engine and couldn’t provide that community with the wants and requested features. To frontiers credit they did look into it tho from my understanding. This game has the ability to use water the way planet coaster fans wanted. I’m guaranteeing aviary capabilities as well but to what degree? We’ll just have to wait and find out. There’s really no reason to stop supporting this game over the next couple years as projects will come and go and they could be working on PC and JWE sequels but as far as I know frontier had said in a roadmap I believe it was leaked so take this with a grain of salt but planned to improve existing titles with the occasional sequel for sure. I think production halted on jwe and PC because frontier was limited in what they could do with the current games as to where planet zoo doesn’t have these limitations.

 

[jcp011c]

I am speaking only for myself, but I know I'd likely support this game for as long as it ran. With one condition, if and when they release my favorite animal, it won't be as an exhibit animal. That'll put my future buying to a screeching halt. I'll still enjoy what i have but I won't support it with more money.

That aside, as a whole I've kind of thought that at the 3 releases per year (maybe 4 if we get lucky) at the current amount of animals per pack (maybe 1-2 more if we get lucky but i doubt it), I will be disappointed if it only runs through the end of 2021. I actually expect it will run through the end of 2022. But I'd be thrilled if it ran for a year past that, to the end of 2023. I can't see it going beyond that, but if it did...with the one condition aside, I'm willing to support it as long as there's new content. This is the zoo game I have wanted and needed since ZT2. Sure it's not perfect, there's one major change I'd make that would probably affect the entire game play, along with some other minor changes, but there's not been a zoo game in nearly 15 years that's come close to what PZ has offered.

 

[paul78]

@jcp011c what is your favorite animal your requesting? I know I want a white rhino but chances are just as good the black rhino makes it instead which in that case I’d still buy dlc. That would be tough to turn down a pack for this game. Speaking for myself they could do a pack with a Sasquatch, dragon, killer whale,ect and I’d probably still buy it honestly. Dinos would be a stretch simply because of PK and JWE but I’d buy prehistoric mammals. Of course I prefer not to but it would be tough to turn down packs of much needed animals simply for that reason with all due respect.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

Planet Zoo - Steam Charts

An ongoing analysis of Steam's player numbers, seeing what's been played the most.

steamcharts.com

If we look at these charts, for me this is a massive drop in player engagement only one month after release. Which for me, looks like while PZ has had a rocket start, it also had pretty much a hard down fall. Now, I assume that is because Planet games aren't exactly easy to get into and if you have not enough patience or do not watch tutorials like others do netflix, the building system can be frustrating and for non-builders there were probably not enough blueprints. Plus I know for some players the game had pretty nasty bugs the first month after release - I was lucky enough not to have any, but I have bugs since the Australia pack (and the climbing frame bug is really annoying).

We can see a rise in April 2020. So I assume that was the South America pack and the pandemic. Most countries were in lock down then and people had way more time to play. But: The lockdown lasted long. Very long and though most players probably still have more time than usual, the numbres, for me, show that DLCs and other existing content can not hold players in the game for long.

However, the aquatic pack was a huge hit and it seems like player numbres didn't fall that fast.

My conclusion to all of it: PZ can be a success, when Frontie is able to hold players attention for longer AND if the packs feel more unique. The aquatic pack broke with a pattern and added animals that were not that similar to the once we already have.

What we also see in the numbres is a slight raise of players in novembre, so in the anniversary month. Of course that could be due to give aways, but I guess also because there were active communicating and marketing going on. I'm sorry, but with the usual zoopedia fact you can not really get players into their game again. And while I advocate for more meaningful and interesting communication, a constant buzz can also be important.

I'm not saying PZ is dead, but to many people PZ SEEMS dead between DLCs and I don't think these extreme ups and downs are helpful when you want a profitable longterm game.

 

[jcp011c]

@jcp011c what is your favorite animal your requesting? I know I want a white rhino but chances are just as good the black rhino makes it instead which in that case I’d still buy dlc. That would be tough to turn down a pack for this game. Speaking for myself they could do a pack with a Sasquatch, dragon, killer whale,ect and I’d probably still buy it honestly. Dinos would be a stretch simply because of PK and JWE but I’d buy prehistoric mammals. Of course I prefer not to but it would be tough to turn down packs of much needed animals simply for that reason with all due respect.

It's the meerkat, I just didn't want to get specific at the risk of it turning wishlist-like. But yeah, if they're exhibit animals, I'm out.

 

[iloveyourzoos]

It's always hard to figure out what business folks will do with numbers like these. (Or any numbers, really).

I would say: "It''s a massive success. Let's invest more!". While someone else would say" "It's a massive success. Don't change a thing!". And a third person might say "Only 1.5 million? What a failure!"

Same thing with the player counts. Is it a drop between dlc's that needs fixing? Or a peak at dlc time that's showing that everything's working?

And does engagement even matter if the sales have already happened? There are lots of businesses that will sell you something, without ever asking or caring how long or how often you will use it.

One thing that I am hopeful for, though, is that those sales numbers suggest that at the very least, they won't be likely to cut back on their original plans for the game because of sales. And if we're lucky, it will mean that they expand the life, support, and dlc for the game beyond what was originally planned.

 

[paul78]

@jcp011c I don’t think you’ll have to worry. I’m sure meerkats will be habitat animals.

 

[FoxyDee]

The question is, do they even care if player attention is not hold for too long IF the people will come back everytime a DLC drops? I mean for some games, mainly online ones where the profit is mainly microtransactions, that would be a big deal, but one thing to consider, for a game like this. Why would Frontier care (from a business view) if players leave again after a week, as long as they bough the DLC ?
And I assume that is mostly what happens with the casual players, they get back to the game to buy the next DLC then take a break until next one.

I would definitely like to see more gameplay changes in DLC that would make more people stay longer, but this is unfortunately how Frontier might think regarding the player counts.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

The question is, do they even care if player attention is not hold for too long IF the people will come back everytime a DLC drops? I mean for some games, mainly online ones where the profit is mainly microtransactions, that would be a big deal, but one thing to consider, for a game like this. Why would Frontier care (from a business view) if players leave again after a week, as long as they bough the DLC ?
And I assume that is mostly what happens with the casual players, they get back to the game to buy the next DLC then take a break until next one.

I would definitely like to see more gameplay changes in DLC that would make more people stay longer, but this is unfortunately how Frontier might think regarding the player counts.

I think, in the long run, if you don't keep your players on a game, it means you will lose them down the line. There will be that moment, a player says: "Is the new DLC worth it? I'll only play with it for a week. I better save up for other games."
I droped a franchise I was invested in for around 14 years, just because of that. If you keep your players intrested though, you definately can prolong the lifespan of a game and if I'm not completly wrong, programming and developing a new DLC for a game will always be more profitable and cheaper than developing a new base game for three years.

 

[NL_Mutso]

The question is, do they even care if player attention is not hold for too long IF the people will come back everytime a DLC drops? I mean for some games, mainly online ones where the profit is mainly microtransactions, that would be a big deal, but one thing to consider, for a game like this. Why would Frontier care (from a business view) if players leave again after a week, as long as they bough the DLC ?

I mentioned it a couple times, it's the similar with other games. It's not a big deal with those and PZ not an exception.

I think some people are overthinking this. Especially the drop in the first month is something you see with a lot of games.
There are exceptions but AAA titles or MMORPG/only online are a thing on their own.

 

[Tobs]

Some of you may find it interesting. Frontier recently released their H1 FY21 results. They created a spoken youtube slide show with the main financial highlights.

Most interesting to PlanZoo:

"[... and finally], Planet Zoo. We launched the Aquatic Pack at Christmas, and that's done brilliantly for us. I [David Braben, Frontier CEO & Founder] think that's worked out as our best ever PC DLC, really performing very well for us."

and,

"Sales across all four of our games in the financial year to date have been ahead of expectations."

Essentially, Frontiers (p)DLC strategy is successful. As they say, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!"

 

[Bearcat9948]

Some of you may find it interesting. Frontier recently released their H1 FY21 results. They created a spoken youtube slide show with the main financial highlights.

Most interesting to PlanZoo:

"[... and finally], Planet Zoo. We launched the Aquatic Pack at Christmas, and that's done brilliantly for us. I [David Braben, Frontier CEO & Founder] think that's worked out as our best ever PC DLC, really performing very well for us."

and,

"Sales across all four of our games in the financial year to date have been ahead of expectations."

Essentially, Frontiers (p)DLC strategy is successful. As they say, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!"

Yeah, I don't expect they'll start giving us more animals in dlcs, even though I believe they should. I said last September I won't buy any dlcs that have only four animals in them going forward, starting in Year 2. I'm not gonna support that model any more. If I do buy, it will be when it's 50/60/75% off the original price. Not saying anyone else needs to do this, nor am I calling for a general boycott or whatever. Just my personal choice and I plan to stick with it.

 

[NL_Mutso]

Yeah, I don't expect they'll start giving us more animals in dlcs, even though I believe they should. I said last September I won't buy any dlcs that have only four animals in them going forward, starting in Year 2. I'm not gonna support that model any more. If I do buy, it will be when it's 50/60/75% off the original price. Not saying anyone else needs to do this, nor am I calling for a general boycott or whatever. Just my personal choice and I plan to stick with it.

While I don't mind the current DLC, I would do the same if I disagree with something similar.

And if I think PZ has the wrong DLC coming out, the 50-70% discount will be my choice for those packs as well.
(personally, this would apply to revisiting previous DLC)

 

[Swjosdotschka]

Well, these things usually are for shareholders, so I doubt they would openly say "stayed behind their expectations "
If they don't change anything according to popular feedback, I feel for PZ like a worried mother for her child. I'd still love it, still support it but will probably always grief silentlythat it'll be "underdeveloped".

And I'll probably think twice if I want to support another Frontier game, when I know furzher development of the game will be extremely limited.