The multiplayer graveyard is littered with tombstones to games that should’ve, but didn’t, get an audience. Being a good game isn’t all that’s required anymore to hit the people you need to hit, with many brilliant titles falling by the wayside and being shut down before their time. I’m not saying that will be the case for Killer Klowns from Outer Space – it absolutely has the potential to turn it around – but two weeks after launch it’s struggling to maintain its player numbers, at least on Steam.
It’s obviously far too early to be calling time on Killer Klowns from Outer Space. The multiplayer horror game is, after all, only two weeks out from launch and anything can – and often does – happen in the gaming space. That said, Steam player numbers have steadily fallen since the game first appeared, with the concurrent player graph showing a slow decline. At the time of writing Killer Klowns from Outer Space has 670 players on Steam currently in-game. That isn’t a wildly horrible number by any means but it’s not a great indicator of health and in addition to that, only 401 viewers are watching gameplay of it right now on Twitch.
It would be foolish to compare it to the juggernaut of the genre – Dead by Daylight’s concurrent numbers are far ahead and that’s to be expected. A similar sized game, however, is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which has 1,275 players currently online on a Tuesday night of no consequence and 1,100 viewers on Twitch. Despite launching several months earlier, the chainsaw-filled game has been able to maintain its numbers much better.
Taking a peek at the Steam forums shows that there are several issues affecting players which may indicate why this has happened. Current complaints range from klowns being underpowered to a perceived flooding of players using cheats, making some games unfair. Of course these are anecdotal, but they do indicate a sourness in tone and a potential defeatism in the community that will need to be combated if Killer Klowns is to stage a comeback.
It’s a shame that the community appears to be slowly deserting the game. In our Killer Klowns from Outer Space review we felt that it held true potential, with the ability to become a real DBD rival in a field that desperately needs one. It’s yet to be seen if this can be turned around, but I’ll be keeping an eye on the klowns and crossing all my fingers for them.
If you’re looking for something else out there, why not take a peek at our guide to the best multiplayer games you can play, or our picks for the best co-op games on PC.
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