Is TrackMania 2 Stadium dying?

[Tomei]

Maybe its just me, but I am seeing the same results as I did with Canyon. First uptake when game was released was massive with everyone downloading the game and playing. After a short while the numbers started dropping off.

Just tonight I fire up Stadium and not really shocked to see such lack of players playing. Usually around this time there are many players playing with server numbers (on the popular servers) 100+ players. I haven't seen these player numbers for a couple of weeks.

Upon reading forum threads at different race/clan sites I see many players unhappy with in-game cameras, no block-mixing tool and being bombarded with ShootMania (which a lot of people don't want, nor will ever play) being the biggest gripes about the game.

I have purchased both Canyon and Stadium, but fear (as with what happened to Canyon) that the players are going elsewhere and playing other games instead. Before Stadium 2 was released I ended up not playing Canyon anymore (for lack of players/competition) and reverting back to TrackMania Nations Forever. And you know what? It was awesome fun all over again.

I really fear Stadium 2 might meet the same fate as Canyon with hardly any players playing it, thus the competition racing against others diminishes, and the players bit by bit go elsewhere. Myself included.

The big question is why?

I think Nadeo need to seriously look at this ...

[steeffeen]

TrackMania 2 Stadium isn't released yet.. it's in Beta!
and that there are still the known bugs probably keeps players away
i think that many players will head over from the old tm as soon as tm2s has been bug fixed and released with the new features (like new blocks)

btw there are waaayy more players in stadium than in canyon and storm link

[Omnixor]

i think that many players will head over from the old tm as soon as tm2s has been bug fixed and released with the new features (like new blocks)

that's where the main doubt is imho.

[HaagseSmurf]

I have purchased both Canyon and Stadium, but fear (as with what happened to Canyon) that the players are going elsewhere and playing other games instead.

If canyon was dead, how is it possible that on a regular saturdaynight 46 players visit our main Canyon server ?? Check Smurfscup results During weekdays we have an avarage of 20 players each evening, which is pretty much for a game which is dead in your opinion.

At the start of a game its allways busy because many players want to see the new game. After a few months its not new anymore and a lot of curious people go check out other new games as well. That doesnt mean the game is dead, by far. The last few months the amount of people playing Canyon regularly is still growing because more and more people seem to like it. That will probably happen to Stadium as well because its not longer playing out of curiousity.

And if you want the amount of players growing on Stadium and Canyon its so easy to point your finger only at Nadeo. Why not think about organizing things yourself to make it more attractive to play, such as tournaments, events etc. etc. Advertise the game on your fb page, and tell how you like the game to friends family etc. etc. Do you know how nice it is to play Stadium or Canyon with your friends using a teamspeakchannel. Have you ever played in tournaments as the PMC, the MX KO or our Smurfscup especially which are all open to anybody in this community?

Greetz,

[FrostBeule]

It's a bit worrisome for sure. I notice in the competitive scene most people are still active in TMNF. And this is for a couple of reasons I believe:

1. The game was supposed to be released in April, then May, and now it seems very unclear when it will actually be released... Nadeo aren't very informative about it either which makes people lose faith. And it also make tournament organizers stick to what they know.

2. The game is more or less just a copy of TMNF in its current form, and in my opinion TMNF is still better than the new game in some important aspects such as being able to disable shadows and no change in the Depth of Field. Also despite getting back the old Cam 2, drifting with it still feels strange to me and I definitely prefer how it's in TMNF. Seems like an unnecessary change.
Also I have heard the so called Speed-Drift that's crucial for competitive play on Speed-maps is not possible in the new game. In addition I don't like the fact that the car is heavier in the new game, it seems more "buggy" on the rammsteins and transitions because of that.

Nadeo need to make sure that people transition to the new game. I feel like this is very important, especially for an eSport. But right now the situation is not very good as TMNF remains the most popular game and at the same time it seems like Nadeo are still mostly focusing on ShootMania, despite there being evidence of Stadium being more popular. I think it deserves more priority personally.

[Bullracing-LX]

totally agree with frost.

[TheBigG.]

totally agree with frost.

+1

Things like the Shadows that you can't turn off and dynamic FOV, Lighting are important to fix before moving to TM2. So i hope Nadeo will listen to the community, or the community will move away.

[TGYoshi]

totally agree with frost.

+1

Things like the Shadows that you can't turn off and dynamic FOV, Lighting are important to fix before moving to TM2. So i hope Nadeo will listen to the community, or the community will move away.

Lighting became a part of the game instead of an optional shiny feature. It's not a bug, it's intentional. I'm personally quite happy with the fact that it's not optional. Mapbuilders have to take lighting into account while building the map. TM2 Stadium is not (well, it should not be) a complete copy of TMNF. It is completely pointless to complain about the fact that something is not exactly the same as in TMNF as this is not TMNF.
You can just play your holy TMNF if you don't want a new game.

[YonCan]

It is completely pointless to complain about the fact that something is not exactly the same as in TMNF as this is not TMNF.

Particularly considering the fact that there are a lot of posts here in the forum complaining that Stadium2 has not enough new features/is too similar to TMNF . Best example that Nadeo can't satisfy everyone .

Why not take the light/shadow aspect as a challenge? A challenge like bends, jumps, loops...?
Professional drivers in real car competitions (Formula 1, Rally,...) have to deal with light, shadows, sun blinding, too. What if they would refuse to start complaining "the sun is too bright today"? It's part of the challenge. So, if I want the usual challenge reduced to track geometry I play TMNF, if I want the expanded challenge with more realistic lighting I play Stadium2.

[Soprah]

[ I haven't read all posts, but I just wanna mention something ]

I can't believe why people claim that TM²Stadium is dead when it is even in BETA?

I might comprehend that you really like the game and you are concerned about the feature of Trackmania 2 Stadium...
But you can only say '' Trackmania 2 Stadium is dead/ dying '' when the game is released for even more a year.

And as somebody said above me, TM²Stadium has still more players than Canyon & Shootmania!
Addtionally, don't disregard that TM²Stadium is one of the famoust race games ever
So be happy and optimistic

Greetings,
Soprah