The Failure and Death of Tanki Online

[AlphaNinjaGirl 537]

Ohh nooo, it's another "Tanki is dying/dead" topic! Where's my downvote button? Oh wait... that was removed.

 

Yep, so... some preface, I guess.

 

Who are you?

 

I'm AlphaNinjaGirl. I've been playing Tanki Online ever since late 2013, but stopped around the end of 2016. I'm a proud free player, always have been and always will be. Well... except for the $100 I spent on gold boxes. If you know me, you probably know me as the fiery-tempered redhead of the short-lived 10K Event.

 

That title is scaring me, what's going on?

 

Oh, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to scare you. All I'm really here to do is to present some data I found, along with some of my personal knowledge, ask a couple of questions, then leave. Is that okie?

 

Uh... sure. Why though?

 

I'm doing this specifically because I care for the game. Some of my best memories are with Tanki. I've had some memorable games, made a few good friends, and gave away around 100 gold boxes. So, consider this me giving back to the game.

 

Sounds interesting, please proceed.

 

Aww, thank you!

 

So, basically, I was sitting in my bed one night and thought, "Huh... I remember Tanki Online. I wonder how it's doing." What followed was a brief look into Tanki's current player count, a few Google searches, and a short but lovely round of Wolfenstein CP.

 

I'm here to share the data I found with you, give you a little history lesson, and try to use trends from the past to predict the future of Tanki. And well... you read the title, so I'm assuming that you know what's about to happen.

 

2013

 

Our story starts in August of 2013, four years ago... back when I started playing. The game was pretty different from what it looks like today. The graphics were a bit weird, controls were wonky, and a whole lot of features were different. Isida could steal health, free crystal boxes dropped from the sky, no kill on gold was a thing... you know, classic Tanki.

 

But I'm not here to describe how awesome the game was back then. I'm here to describe the game's level of interest and popularity back then.

 

As shown by Google Trends, which... yes I know it's not *the* most reliable source of data, but it is still pretty reliable... the game's popularity had stagnated, having dropped from a spike in March 2013. Looking back at old news archives, you can see that late March 2013 was when a team kick update was announced -- odd, huh?

 

Anyway, the game's popularity being still wasn't too bad, honestly. There hadn't been many major events from March to September, but keeping a steady pace isn't bad. I remember logging on and seeing about 50,000 players online every day, so the game was definitely doing well.

 

Interest wouldn't spike until the Holiday season though, with huge surges increasing around Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. And hoo boy, Christmas 2013 was a massive success for Tanki. The event featured a 60% increase in battle funds, 25% crystal shop bonus, and a full 50% discount on everything (except kits). The game's interest shot up to the highest it had been in Tanki's lifetime, for that year, anyway. But, when the new year event died out, the game dropped back down to a more "normal" rate; about 10% higher than the previous year's "normal" rate, as the trends show.

 

So, in short, between March 2013 and January 2014, Tanki Online grew by 10%.

 

2014

 

Ahh 2014. That sweet, sweet year of awesome. My heart races just to tell you about all the cool stuff, but I have to keep this concise, so...

 

The game was riding heavily on its previous years' success, and Tanki Devs showed no signs of stopping on improvements. An interesting survey on 30 Jan 2014 showed Semyon Kirov asking the Tanki players why they found Tanki a good game to play. The most common response was the fact that Tanki was free to play, browser-based, unique, fun, and had a high skill ceiling. The players also enjoyed playing with friends, playing with players from around the world, and of course, getting awesome discounts.

 

Following the players' feedback, the game's popularity spiked in March, April and May, with awesome events bringing huge discounts for players. The buzz from these events didn't die out until June, when the devs started rolling out more technical updates -- changes to CP mode, chat notifications, etc -- but the game still continued on strongly.

 

And of course, who could forget the Christmas event of 2014. That one holiday was the single most successful day for Tanki Online to this day, with a surge of about 250,000 players logging daily, as the discounts were spread throughout multiple days. 50% discounts on turrets one day, 50% discounts on hulls the next, with paints, supplies, and microupgrades following in tow. I bought myself a sweet new Viking M1 on my first alternate account, as a matter of fact.

 

It certainly helped that the new Hammer turret had just passed testing and was now live; players who enjoyed it could grab it for super cheap not shortly after its release. All in all, just a great time for Tanki.

 

So, what happened?

 

2015

 

Well, a lot actually. At first, it looked like Tanki was going to continue to grow, settling to a comfortable equilibrium which was 10% higher than its previous year's. The hype surrounding the new Vulcan turret kept Tanki afloat through January, the Iron Days event through February, and the Daily Missions testing in March. But then, in April, something happened.

 

Well... actually, the opposite. Nothing happened. Or at least pretty much nothing. No new events were introduced, rather the game received more technical updates. Balance changes, mouse controls, and LOTS of Star Series promotion.

 

I'm not sure why exactly, but something about April stunk. And the stench would continue to plague Tanki for the rest of the year. During the course of summer and fall, Tanki's popularity began to drop significantly, despite the dev team throwing hundreds of discounts at the players.

 

I have my own ideas as to why this is, but since my opinion is rather unpopular, I'll save that for another day.

 

Popularity didn't return until later in the year, with the Premium accounts, Halloween, and Christmas updates spiking the players again, but only grasping up to 70% of what the previous year's events had garnered. The game's popularity was falling pretty fast.

 

2016

 

By April of 2016, the buzz from Christmas had died out completely, and the game was growing cold. A drought of discounts set in; the next double crystal event was in June, but by then a lot of players had already lost interest. Tanki began pouring out some pretty poorly-received updates. Tanki X was announced in February, and players began wondering if their Flash Tanki accounts were safe. In addition, early battle termination was announced, but never really worked. By late March, Semyon Kirov had left Tanki in the hands of Cedric Debono, a tragic day indeed. Not even Tanki's birthday in June could raise interest, being surrounded by tons of down-days as the devs worked on updates.

 

By July, interest in the game had hit an all-time low, with the infamous Paint Separation Update dropping and splitting the community. Announcements began rolling out about changes to the shop, shop-exclusive kits, and alterations. The only discount given in the Fall was that on microupgrades, which had also been reworked.

 

By September, the game's popularity had pretty much tanked (pun intended), showing a 20% drop from the previous year's September. Try as they might, neither Halloween nor Christmas could save Tanki; the latter's paltry discounts were a huge step down from the previous years, and were almost insulting to try and make use of. The unpopular Striker turret had been recently released, but its slow gameplay wasn't helping at all.

 

2017 and beyond?

 

And so we come to this year. Honestly, I stopped playing after the New Year's event in 2016, and apparently a lot of people did. While most years' Christmas and New Year's festivities created a short buzz that continued on into the new year, 2016's didn't. Instead, the interest fell straight back down to its low, and it's continued that way ever since. As of right now, the game has reached an all-time low in interest. And with September right around the corner, which is historically shown to be Tanki's worst month, I doubt that Tanki will see it to Christmas 2018.

 

From what the patterns show, the game's main draws are Halloween and Christmas. Its popularity grew sharply in 2013 and 2014, but dropping just as sharply in 2015 and 2016. If Tanki continues on its current path, the game should see one last Christmas, before fading completely into obscurity.

 

Wow. What happened?

 

It's hard to tell the turning point, honestly. Maybe it was the Smart Cooldowns update in September of 2014. Maybe it was the Paint Separation update in July 2016. Maybe people just got bored of blowing up tanks.

 

But I think we can all agree on something; Tanki developers stopped caring about the players. They stopped rolling out random free discounts, and started rolling out premium accounts and shop sales. They stopped updating the garage and started updating the meta. They got greedy.

 

Whether or not you agree with me doesn't really matter at this point, the data is there for you to interpret, but this is how I've interpreted it. If you pour through Tanki's old news archives, I doubt you'd disagree with me.

 

If the pattern continues, and it will, Tanki won't see another Christmas.

 

So... what do we do now?

 

...You really want to know?

 

Yeah...

 

*sigh* Okie...

 

Christmas isn't Tanki Online's last hope. Tanki's last hope was last Christmas, and it didn't help at all. This game is beyond the point of no return. The developers know this, and they want to snatch as much money from you as possible before the game dies. I'd hate for that to happen to anybody, and I'd hate for this game's last moments to be viewed as a disgusting scam.

 

So here's what I'm thinking...

 

We give Tanki one last hurrah. We all log in on Christmas and play the heck out of the game. Troll, mult, drug, anything that gives us enjoyment; just a night of crazy, full-blown shenanigans. We spam all our drugs, all our saved up gold boxes, and spend all our crystals on whatever discounts we get. We talk, laugh, cry, and reminisce. There's no arguing over anything, not the future, not the past, not drug updates or paint updates or anything. Just a huge gathering of players coming together and enjoying the game for what it is, and what it used to be.

 

And then, as soon as the festivities end, we quit. December 26th, 0 players online.

 

Let's give this game we love a peaceful, quick death. Let's not have Tanki be doomed to a slow, painful death by horrible updates and greedy developers. Let's give this game the closure it deserves.

 

If you agree with me, spread the word.

 

This has been Angie, and this has been one heck of a ride. I wish you all the best of luck. 

 

See you on the 25th. ;)

 

If you're interested in the data tables that I used, you can check one out here:

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2013-01-25%202017-08-25&q=%2Fm%2F07s84qp

 

If you're interested in the Tanki news archives, you can check them out here:

http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showforum=203

 

If you're interested in my ratings... uh... that's weird. But you can check it out here:

http://ratings.tankionline.com/en/user/alphaninjagirl/

 

If you wish to challenge or debate my conclusions... eh, don't waste your time. I honestly don't care enough to talk about it anymore.

Edited August 25, 2017 by Ninja
Please do not instigate others to violate the Game Rules.

[lukey0 27,543]

I see your point of view, and most of it is the truth, but a little bit of faith can go a long way. People will continue to play after the 25th, there is no doubt in that. 

 

There is just one problem with your views. If Tanki knows for certain that the project they created will die in less than two years, why the heck would they be trying to improve it? HTML5 for example, if it was going to die wouldn't the obvious choice be to save money and let Tanki die on Flash technology? Why introduce the MM system? This system makes the game perfect for a mobile gaming market, and with the low about of polygons in the textures Tanki is perfect for Phones, Tablets etc. 

 

IMO Tanki is moving out of the desktop era, lets face it it's pretty much dead and the mobile gaming market is huge now and is only growing. 

 

Another example would be the Repair Kit nerf, if you wanted as much money as possible why upset one of your biggest incomes?

 

Tanki will eventually die out yes, but it still has some potential left. If the Deves play their cards right, implant some useful updates, the game has potential, thats for sure. 

[dilsharox 2,395]

then tanki couuld allocate more resources towards tanki x 

maybe thats what they want 

[FTW 240]

I agree with you but your choice of words and sentences is really creepy and edgy - sorry.

[Ninja 10,468]

Firstly; great to see you back Angie, you might remember me as electrolux1, I attended quite a few of your 10K events.  

 

The game is definitely past it's heyday, though that is somewhat expectable considering it is 8 years old. Players are becoming fewer and developers need to keep the game running and their employees paid while big changes are being made, hence the increase in shop items and sales and a decrease in advantageous items for free players (1500 Supplies kit). Alot of this is actually covered in  @Maf's Summary of the Russian (unofficial) stream with Hazel definitely worth a read if you're interested. 

 

I personally think that once HTML5 & the Matchmaking system are implemented in their final form developers will start advertising the game as they did back when it was alot more popular. There is no point advertising a game running on an outdated engine with so many bugs and glitches likely to ruin any chance of player retention.

 

And no; Tanki Online hasnt failed, it's been a raging success to have a game last 8 years with over 50M registered accounts.

[maryam98 1,171]

I personally think that actually few updates had such a bad effect on the game- I never really noticed updates before the PRO pass and Daily mission ones- those were really annoying to me, especially as I was one of those who 'cheated' the system, tho I never thought of it like that- I just did the sensible thing, to collect boxes and make 1v1 1 kill TDMs that I was certain to come first in.

[GuidoFawkes 2,361]

Tanki being pay to win is excatly why i love this game so much, because i enjoy beating up buyers(usually with clan, not alone). They might not have made any money out of me directly but i wonder if anyone has been pushed into buying even more after i beat them.

 

but i'm sorry i cant understand how this game has been ruined because i was never there when this game was fun for you, i only started end of march this year.

Edited August 25, 2017 by GuidoFawkes

[splitterpoint 10,986]

I personally think that actually few updates had such a bad effect on the game- I never really noticed updates before the PRO pass and Daily mission ones- those were really annoying to me, especially as I was one of those who 'cheated' the system, tho I never thought of it like that- I just did the sensible thing, to collect boxes and make 1v1 1 kill TDMs that I was certain to come first in.

You're not alone. Seize the opportunity while it lasts. Exploiting bugs are technically against the rules but who's there to punish you at that particular moment? People don't do anything wrong when they make use of these bugs.. it's the system's fault, not ours.

 

There was a day when you could one-shot everyone with the arcade shots of Shaft back in May 2013... Like literally everyone including the drugged Mammoths... with an M0 Shaft.

 

It was really cool and I made a lot of videos on my old laptop. Sadly everything was lost shortly after when my hard drive crashed and I had to burn the laptop and bury it somewhere in the field.

 

I didn't knew at the time that this was against the rules but I definitely would've done it again if the bug was there today. I got raids of 6 kills because the shot passed trough multiple tanks haha.

[maryam98 1,171]

Tanki being pay to win is excatly why i love this game so much, because i enjoy beating up buyers(usually with clan, not alone). They might not have made any money out of me directly but i wonder if anyone has been pushed into buying even more after i beat them.

but i'm sorry i cant understand how this game has been ruined because i was never there when this game was fun for you, i only started end of march this year.

For me, this game always was fun, and, probably, always will be fun. The whole game, the friends I've made and everything in the game, are what made me so sad when I had to stop playing.

You're not alone. Seize the opportunity while it lasts. Exploiting bugs are technically against the rules but who's there to punish you at that particular moment? People don't do anything wrong when they make use of these bugs.. it's the system's fault, not ours.

There was a day when you could one-shot everyone with the arcade shots of Shaft back in May 2013... Like literally everyone including the drugged Mammoths... with an M0 Shaft.

It was really cool and I made a lot of videos on my old laptop. Sadly everything was lost shortly after when my hard drive crashed and I had to burn the laptop and bury it somewhere in the field.

I didn't knew at the time that this was against the rules but I definitely would've done it again if the bug was there today. I got raids of 6 kills because the shot passed trough multiple tanks haha.

That would have been fun :d Actually, I remember the times when my Shaft M0 Mammoth M1 combo could dominate a Camp TDM battle- but I don't remember arcade shots being powerful.

[Crimson_Tank 285]

Play Tanki X. It's NOT Pay2Win and developers care more about their players and community than the just how much money players have. Non-buyers and buyers are equal and don't have any advantage over each other. Skills2Win, Pay2Cosmetic. Honestly it's so balanced you wouldn't even  be able to tell a buyer from a non-buyer as some rare weapons can be aquired by Non-buyers. I have rare weapons and a rare paint, that you'd have to normally buy using real money. I've never spent any real money on TO and TX. 

https://tankix.com/en/ Ditch TO and come to the right side. 

Sorry TO, but you had it coming... ;) 

[lukey0 27,543]

Play Tanki X. It's NOT Pay2Win and developers care more about their players and community than the just how much money players have. Non-buyers and buyers are equal and don't have any advantage over each other. Skills2Win, Pay2Cosmetic. Honestly it's so balanced you wouldn't even  be able to tell a buyer from a non-buyer as some rare weapons can be aquired by Non-buyers. I have rare weapons and a rare paint, that you'd have to normally buy using real money. I've never spent any real money on TO and TX. 

https://tankix.com/en/ Ditch TO and come to the right side. 

Sorry TO, but you had it coming... ;)

As fair as TX might be doing what you said is a bad move. Right not TO is financially supporting itself and TX. Meaning TX doesn't actually have enough buyers to support the game on its own and actually relies on TO still. If everyone just moved to TX it might actually result in both games being shut down. 

[Crimson_Tank 285]

As fair as TX might be doing what you said is a bad move. Right not TO is financially supporting itself and TX. Meaning TX doesn't actually have enough buyers to support the game on its own and actually relies on TO still. If everyone just moved to TX it might actually result in both games being shut down. 

Hmm.... I didn't think of it like that. But, not many buyers, however doesn't TX and TO have multiple YouTube channels with over 90k and 80k subs...? They could use that as income too, but I see your point. 

[falcosenna1 8,320]

with over 50M registered accounts.

Agreed, except for this thingy. Well, you're right about the number of registered accounts, but looking at that number is wrong. Looking at the number of active players is what should be done. And that number has been decreasing drastically, just like the number of (balanced) battles.

 

 

As fair as TX might be doing what you said is a bad move. Right not TO is financially supporting itself and TX. Meaning TX doesn't actually have enough buyers to support the game on its own and actually relies on TO still. If everyone just moved to TX it might actually result in both games being shut down. 

Indeed. TX isn't the financial success they hoped it would be.

Edited August 25, 2017 by falcosenna1

[Crimson_Tank 285]

However, TX did just start out recently. It's not going to be earning nearly as much as TO yet. 

[ghost-guns 1,486]

Good post. My personal opinion is that the developers messed with the game too much.

[Lightning78 285]

Nice summary.

 

In my view things were going quite alright up to 2015. A massive screw-up back then was linked to the start of Tanki X development. First all accounts were meant to be moved (as officially communicated), then they changed their mind without telling this to the community. Real PR disaster and big blow in credibility.

 

Thereafter, there has been a series of ill-conceived updates, including changes like the infamous Battle button, not allowing daily missions in PRO battles, removing English or German servers (slap in the face of non-Russian community), etc. What these updates all have in common is that none of them actually made the game more fun to play, pretty disastrous for a casual browser game like TO. And it seems to continue in this vein: the dreaded matchmaking will make sure nobody can cut any corners when completing daily missions - they really want to make players suffer.. :P

 

Of course, all these unpopular changes are sold as "we have to change the game to ensure it survives, don't worry, we're getting there and things will be great again". Pretty laughable - don't believe for one second the Devs actually know where this is going and everything is proceeding as planned. They seem rather clueless, desperate of keeping this game alive..

[AlphaNinjaGirl 537]

Firstly; great to see you back Angie, you might remember me as electrolux1, I attended quite a few of your 10K events.  

Great to see you again. You're a ninja too now? My my...  :wub:

 

Tanki Online hasnt failed, it's been a raging success to have a game last 8 years with over 50M registered accounts.

Oh, I didn't mean failure in that sense. I meant failure as in falling into disrepair. Like a heart failure.  :P

 

Obviously Tanki has been a financial success, its mere existence for this long stands as a testament to that. But as a game, it's flatlined. Out of those 50 million registered accounts, how many are active?

 

I've been keeping a close eye on the amount of players online at any given time. From what I can gather, there are a mere 7,500 players playing from the American continent, and about 11,000 players from the Eurasian continent; about 18,500 active players total. That's a huge drop from the 400,000 or so back in 2014.

 

 

I personally think that once HTML5 & the Matchmaking system are implemented in their final form developers will start advertising the game as they did back when it was alot more popular.

 

With all due respect, a couple new technical updates aren't going to bring back the masses that left Tanki. Previous updates (drug nerfs and balance changes), events (Christmas and Halloween 2016), and discounts have shown this. People just don't trust the developers anymore.

 

I appreciate your enthusiasm and optimism, but as for me, I've completely lost faith in Tanki's devs. Any balance update they could possibly roll out right now would just come off as a sad and desperate attempt to line their pockets with just a few more dollars, but unless they pull a miracle out of their butts, the game will be dead before next June. The data doesn't lie.

 

I personally think that once HTML5 & the Matchmaking system are implemented in their final form developers will start advertising the game as they did back when it was alot more popular.

With all due respect, a couple new technical updates aren't going to bring back the masses that left Tanki. Previous updates, sales, and discounts have shown this.

Edited August 25, 2017 by AlphaNinjaGirl

[lukey0 27,543]

Hmm.... I didn't think of it like that. But, not many buyers, however doesn't TX and TO have multiple YouTube channels with over 90k and 80k subs...? They could use that as income too, but I see your point. 

Unless they put advertisements on their videos which they don't have they won't make any income from it. 

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

Your history of TO was interesting but the end bit? Seriously?

 

Anyway, before we declare Tanki apocalypse let's consider some other games.

First things first, here are the popularity charts for Tanki Online in both English and Russian:

 

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F07s84qp

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%B8%20%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BD

 

You'll notice they somewhat resemble the normal curve.

Now here is the popularity chart for World of Tanks, the biggest free to play tank game on the market. I think it's a good comparison because it came out in 2009 like Tanki Online.

 

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F0c03cdz

 

The trend is quite similar. Popularity increased for a while, but after a peak it started to decrease. It's worth noting that popularity started to decline about the same time as did TO's. Now, WoT obviously isn't as popular as it once was. Does that mean it's dying/dead? Not by any stretch of the imagination. Currently there is a massive graphics update in the works. It's developers wouldn't put so much effort into it if they knew the game was dying. 

Now let's look at War Thunder, probably WoT's biggest competitor (also free to play):

 

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F0r3w7jk

 

Again, the chart is quite similar. War Thunder is probably the farthest from dying out of the three. Naval forces and modern tanks are being added to the game in addition to the existing WW2 aircraft and tanks. 

 

Finally, let's look at Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2. They aren't about tanks, but both are very popular free to play games that have been around for a long time.

 

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F060phy

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F0dlkwn1

 

Same pattern. There is a peak, then a decline. Yet neither game is one that I'd call dead or dying.

What's the conclusion? Once they reach a peak, games naturally lose players over time. They can't grow forever. But this does not mean they are going to die soon. 

 

It's also important to remember that these charts do not shot the number of players. They show search interest, eg, how many people went and typed "Tanki Online" into their search bar. 

Edited August 28, 2017 by ThirdOnion

[Crimson_Tank 285]

Unless they put advertisements on their videos which they don't have they won't make any income from it. 

They get money from subscribers. And views, etc.

Edited August 26, 2017 by Crimson_Tank

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

They get money from subscribers. And views, etc.

You can't get any money from views or subscribers if you don't have ads on your videos. They do not get any money from Youtube.

[Crimson_Tank 285]

You can't get any money from views or subscribers if you don't have ads on your videos. They do not get any money from Youtube.

wrong scroll down and click How many views do you need to make money on YouTube. You can make money from VIEWS and SUBS ALONE. 

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

wrong scroll down and click How many views do you need to make money on YouTube. You can make money from VIEWS and SUBS ALONE. 

I take it you didn't notice the bit called "Types of Ads?" Here's a quote from the very article you referred me to: "You don't make money based on the amount of views you have. You make money based on people's engagement with the ad."

Edited August 26, 2017 by ThirdOnion

[Crimson_Tank 285]

I take it you didn't notice the bit called "Types of Ads?" Here's a quote from the very article you referred me to: "You don't make money based on the amount of views you have. You make money based on people's engagement with the ad."

ahh....   Ok kid bye :) You don't know much about YouTube do you? You get paid for views and subs. Why do you think big YouTubers always say hit that subscribe button and turn notifications on? Why do you think you get copyrighted for uploading a music video that's 3 minutes long if you get no money? If you have any common sense use it. 

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

ahh....   Ok kid bye :) You don't know much about YouTube do you? You get paid for views and subs. Why do you think big YouTubers always say hit that subscribe button and turn notifications on? Why do you think you get copyrighted for uploading a music video that's 3 minutes long if you get no money? If you have any common sense use it. 

I don't think you understand. You get paid for views ONLY if you have an ad on your video. Where do you think the money comes from? Youtube decides to give channels money just because their videos were watched? You get copyrighted not because you earn money, it's because you're breaking copyright laws. Did you even read the article you gave me?