Albion Online Revamps Its Invite-a-Friend Program (To Combat A Declining Playerbase...?)
Sandbox Interactive announced yesterday that they just revamped their Invite-a-Friend program by introducing 7 day trial keys which can be purchased and given to friends. Previously players received a gold bounty (premium currency) for inviting new players to the game who purchased the game. The only real difference now is that players can purchase and send 7 day trial keys to their friends which should increase the likelihood of them purchasing the game. These trial keys are available for purchase in-game at a cost of 1,000 gold.
The introduction of these free trial keys is likely an attempt by Sandbox Interactive to boost the game's declining playerbase. Fame gain (a form of progression) is a good proxy for active players in Albion Online. During launch week 134K characters gained at least 1 point of fame and in the most recent week of data only 42.6k players gained fame. Obviously this doesn't mean that the game is anywhere near dead as many of the remaining players seem to be quite active. In addition, the game has 1 mega server so its playerbase isn't fragmented all over the place. Still, the decline in active characters isn't a good sign.
Albion Online active Characters (NOT players) per Week (got at least 1 fame)
week ending 06 Aug: 134k characters got fame
week ending 13 Aug: 115k characters got fame (14% weekly decrease)
week ending 20 Aug: 109k characters got fame (5% weekly decrease)
week ending 27 Aug: 88k characters got fame (19% weekly decrease)
week ending 03 Sep: 77k characters got fame (13% weekly decrease)
week ending 10 Sep: 66k characters got fame (15% weekly decrease)
week ending 17 Sep: 56k characters got fame (17% weekly decrease)
week ending 24 Sep: 50k characters got fame (11% weekly decrease)
week ending 01 Oct: 47k characters got fame (6% weekly decrease)
week ending 08 Oct: 42.6k characters got fame (9% weekly decrease)
