Knightly Musings: Crytek Confirms 40% of Hunt: Showdown Players Suck

When it comes to PvP, the skill ceiling can be very high as dedicated gamers hone their skills and learn all of the ins and outs of their specific game. Crytek’s Hunt: Showdown is certainly no exception. The skill ceiling for this PvPvE monster shooter can be hard to break into. An observation given credence by Crytek General Manager David Fifield who said that 40% of players have never killed another player. Which leads me to believe that almost 40% of Hunt: Showdown players suck at playing the game.

Fifield’s claim was brought up in a roundtable discussion hosted by PC Gamer at the Game’s Developer Conference (GDC)  in which he stated, 

“We have an achievement in Hunt called Debut. It’s ‘kill your first enemy Hunter’, 40% of our players never get it. We’re a PvP game where you come in, you do some things, and 40% of the people trying Hunt have never killed another player.”

Obviously, it isn’t exactly 40% of players. I assume that Fifield just rounded up that number since I took a quick look and, as of 05/08/2023, Steam’s global achievements shows that 63% of players have killed another player. Still, it is hard for me to fathom that such a significant number of players (37%) have never even killed another player.

Are these players skilless video game journalists who couldn’t unlock the “Debut” achievement? How many are losers who need hacks and cheats to be “good” at the game? Perhaps others are the gamers who turn the difficulty setting of every game they play down to easy mode? Or are they simply players who quit the game rather quickly once they saw how difficult it was?

There is no denying that the game is a difficult one to get into and get the hang of. Even focusing on the Hunt: Showdown PvE aspect, the NPC monsters can present a challenge for the unwary or uninitiated (plenty of jump scare moments too). There are also the weapons which require players to become proficient at, as they all have their strengths and weaknesses, varying ways to wield them in the game, and even learning to lead your target or adjust for bullet drop. 

Yet, in the end, this stat goes to show that the real monsters in Hunt: Showdown are the players themselves which almost 40% can not defeat. With only 300 hours in the game, I can tell you, the PvP in Hunt: Showdown is some of the most skill-based, adrenaline-pumping action you can find when it comes to online multiplayer games (trust me, the number of hours would be much more but I need to get a new gaming PC). 

And I have never considered myself to be that great when it comes to playing against other players. Hell, when I first started playing Hunt: Showdown, I was the solo player who would sometimes camp at one of the extraction points and ambush the duo or trio who defeated the big monsters for the Bounty.

Newsflash, people really hate you when you do that.

But guess what? When you are playing solo, you have to devise strategies that increase your chances of winning and/or obtain near god-like skills. Now, I don’t camp the extraction point from the start anymore. But I do locate the boss lairs and then find the best ambush spots where I can pick off one, hopefully two, before the group knows where I am.

So while trying to find ways to get better at the game, I’d like to think I succeeded since the results speak for themselves.

As someone who loves the game, check out the Valentine Post where I featured my favorite hunter Sheriff Hardin, it is absolutely confounding that over a third of the players have yet to kill another player. Don’t get me wrong, the PvE aspect of Hunt: Showdown is great and I would say that the IP is severely underutilized, but come on people! 

However, I would love to know what is going on here. Even hear from the people who have yet to unlock this achievement just to get an understanding of what is transpiring. Is it that they go out of their way to avoid PvP fights? Do they just lose every player encounter? Do they just farm monsters, wait until the bounty has been extracted, and then leave the map themselves? And how many of them just simply quit the game because it is difficult from the start?

It will be interesting to see how Crytek deals with this conundrum. 

But what do you think? Do you agree that 40% of Hunt: Showdown players just suck at the game? Or is there more to it than that?

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