Why is FatShark so resistant on making QOL additions? [rant]

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide General Discussion
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Throughout playing Darktide, we all thought at least once something like: “Man, Darktide could really use [insert QOL addition here] it seems like such an easy add.” And it all just gets me thinking: What is up with FatShark not bothering with small QOL additions?

This feels so weird because such small changes do not really require that many resources, right? So I brainstorm. Is it because they calculate precisely how many resources do they need to put in for every new update so they can survive until the next one? Such theory definitely seems to fit their design philosophy of not really caring about how many players play their game on average, only caring about people gathering to play Darktide when there’s an update.

But it’s all just so bizarre to me. Why only care about that? The way I see it, such a design philosophy should leave all employees unpaid and the studio bankrupt. The players who play Darktide when there’s a new update are mostly people who have already bought it and are just returning. So there is already a low amount of income from new buyers. And the other source is the premium cosmetic shop. But that is just a case of whether players will even bother to check what’s in the shop, and a huge amount of players stops playing the game just a few days after an update.

A new addition to Darktide takes them 3 months, give or take. The content they put out requires time and skill from developers, artists, coders, etc. There are over 100 people working at FatShark and they all need to be paid. How does their design philosophy work? It feels like it just shouldn’t, when you break it down. A whole studio with 100+ employees that creates games shouldn’t be able to survive of just a chance that players will give them some money.

So I am asking anyone on the FatShark forums who have definitely already thought about it. Does my theory about FatShark laser-focusing on grand-new content and not bothering with QOL additions to save as much money as possible feasible?

But more importantly, do you already know the answer as to how is FatShark even a functioning game company with how they view their games? Because to me, when I break it down, it feels that a studio like that cannot feasibly live off a single game that they do not care to put in it as little as some QOL additions to make the gaming experience better.

And we’re talking about Darktide for God’s sake! Their most successful game to date! Vermintide 2 was their golden child, but now it is dying and other than those two there is no other game that FatShark largely profits from.

If I had one particular successful game, I would put all my resources into it, because what else would make me money? Because a dying 7-year-old game is not the answer, and I’m saying this as a Vermintide 2 fan!

So just, can anyone answer me this? Does anybody know how is FatShark still here? Because to me, it’s maddening how they haven’t shut down long time ago.

Thank you for coming to my rant session. I hope that it will bear at least some answers to my questions. Also, this may be a rant but I do not view this post as a place to just dunk on FatShark or to doom-post at how hopeless we are to get any QOL additions. I genuinely would like to see some of your answers to this. I want to know, just how are they still a functioning game studio after all those years of this game philosophy.

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The Book of Grudges: Because Fatshark Won't Listen
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Obviously we don’t, and likely won’t ever, get the inside baseball on why they are the way they are.

But I think we can answer this question:

They’ve cornered the market their product serves.

I, and others, criticize how poorly they function as a business from what we can see. But, by all accounts, there simply is no one else making games that nail the tide formula like they do.

It’s a common refrain to hear and see how addicted players can get once the game play clicks. And that seems to lead to a dedicated base + enough of an audience that consumes their games the preferred Magnusson way, in bite sized portions from time to time.

That is how they are still here. It simply must be enough to sustain their operating costs + profit goals or we’d surely have seen changes of some kind, negative or positive.

And, if those needs are met, then they seem to just rest on those laurels, no real motive to improve their product.

It’s why old hats and newer disillusioned players, who’ve discovered the glory of their combat systems, really hope to see a new dev team enter the genre and scratch that itch.
The competition that drives the “ideal free market” toward improvement isn’t present for FS currently. Maybe in a broader PvE sense, but not at the core of what makes a lifelong FPS player feel like they just got their first taste of crack and there’s no going back.

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They make payroll by having outside investors buy up large chunks of the company.

The reason they don’t do basic QOL updates is because they’re extremely bad at implementing those features and seem to have most of the studio pointed at making a new game to rip people off with when it releases unfinished.

This is also part of it. Witness the Total War series and how Creative Assembly basically owns the entire concept.

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Their lack of care and slow pace is awful, I think we all agree and hate it.
But against all odds it seems to be enough to keep the lights on, so what the f do we know really? You might not like it as a customer but they seem to know better.

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It’s the same situation as Gearbox with Borderlands. Name one looter shooter that nails the formula as well as, or better, than Borderlands? There really isn’t another option. There’s fun options, like Roboquest and Gunfire Reborn to scratch the shooter aspect but they don’t get the RPG aspect. Destiny gets the RPG aspect, but is an MMO. And Outriders got the story aspect, but failed the loot grind. If you want an RPG Looter Shooter, there’s Borderlands. If you want a horde shooter/slasher, there’s the Tide series.

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More than that, each of the Tide games has been more of a success than the last.

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If we’re talking QOL features. Menu and UI.

Of course below is resolved with mods but still could of been easily implemented natively.

  • It took over 2 years to add the ability to multi-select gear in inventory for batch delete/salvage. Before had to do it one by one.

  • Lets take Microsoft Outlook and apply to Darktide inventory. What if you could filter out by certain criteria weapon type, stats, rarity.

  • The weapon inventory scroll bar can lag if too many weapons. Answer would of been to add pages or an archive storage to keep weapons away from live inventory. Much again like Outlook you can use archive to keep things clean.

  • Quick menu to get into mission board, training ground, crafting. Yes, it was great immersion walking around in mourningstar initially but after a while, not much else to see in the area.

  • NumericUI. In the heat of battle, there is no time to discuss who gets what ammo and what he/she has left. Is this supposed to be handicap to hinder view of other players ammo count because being tactical in sharing ammo is too much of an in game benefit?

  • The mission board. Why not just go table format, row by row. I don’t see UI benefit of moving mouse to random directions to click certain missions, our eyes scan information in one axis better. Why make it fuzzy abstract art style. Simple screenshot would do of unique area in mission i.e. the final area of map.

Hence DT’s UI was often referred to looking very mobile UI.

All resolved with mods, but could of been native.

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Quality of life, what’s that

We only know how to say nothing, forget about mandatory holidays that happen at the same time each year and add misinformation to our game.

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they hate money. why we still not got AI bots/solo mode despite fandom begging from release. they could double numbers overnight if they followed SM2 lead and listened to fandom.

clear as day company is barely breaking even and Dt is hurting them. fatshark will be making DT2 or some other new game in 2-3 years to keep afloat i reckon.

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with dark being the sad exception to rule according to steam charts.

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No, DT has consistently had more players playing on average than VT2 was ever able to maintain.

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fair steam charts does not reflect it and the reddit forums also show its highly despised but maybe players via COG make up diff. i know steam as a whole is dying.

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