InZOI's Early Access released in late March, and was a massive success. It sold 1 million copies within its first week on Steam, and has positive reviews on the platform. As the first real competition to The Sims 4, which has dominated the life sim space for 25 years, many life sim gamers were excited to get their hands on something new. InZOI gave life sim gamers new ways to create characters and run a city.
One of the metrics for a video game's success is its player count. This is particularly important in the weeks after its release, and gives an indication of the longevity of the game. However, the rules are slightly different in Early Access, and seeing a sharp decline in InZOI's player count doesn't necessarily mean the game will be unsuccessful. Early Access games are understood by their players to be missing key features, and once those features are added in updates, the player count sees another increase. This pattern tends to continue throughout Early Access.
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InZOI's Player Count Problem
In the weeks since InZOI launched, its player count has decreased significantly. In InZOI's release week, concurrent players peaked at over 87,000. Just two weeks later, the number of players dropped by over 90% to just 5,500 players. Players have expressed concerns about InZOI since its launch, and have included concerns around InZOI's use of generative AI, lack of gameplay, and InZOI's karma system, which some players find annoying.
These numbers appear alarming, but it may not be all bad news for InZOI. Initial interest in games, especially those in Early Access, tends to peak at release and experience a sharp decline soon afterward. Other Early Access games, such as Palworld, have seen a similar pattern, where player counts peaked at release and then dropped. However, player interest in Palworld peaked again with each update, and it's gone on to become incredibly successful now that more updates have been implemented.
Why It Isn't Over For InZOI
This is likely what will happen with InZOI. While InZOI's player count has seen a dramatic dip, it's likely that the player count will rise sharply once the next major update for InZOI is released in May 2025. Players tend to explore the new additions that the update brings, then leave the game until the next update is released. Because Early Access games are unfinished and often miss important features that will become staples, gamer interest can wane as they hit content walls.
InZOI Can Retain Its Player Count
Player counts tend to spike again after an update, especially if the update brings new features and quality of life updates. The game has been transparent about its planned content releases and InZOI's Early Access roadmap. Planned updates include a new world, playable ghosts, mod support, cheats, updates to Build mode, more options when editing the city, family trees, and many more.
These features will be added in increments across the rest of 2025. Some of these features will address some player concerns, such as playable ghosts and more customization options for cities. Both of these options are heavily tied to the karma system and should make it look very different to what it is now. InZOI has also been criticized for having shallow gameplay, but more gameplay features are set to be added in updates. More gameplay is very likely to help InZOI's player count retain higher numbers over the months.
InZOI
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 77 /100 Critics Rec: 80%
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Genre(s)
- Life Simulation
