According to Gallegos, survival games appeal to basic human instincts. He believes that’s also why their mechanics are often easy to grasp.
“Everyone’s little monkey brains like shelter and food,” Gallegos said. “I used to work at this one Marvel studio, and we had some coworkers that would occasionally bring their kids to work,” continued the designer.
He also recalled one story about a little kid dealing with survival mechanics.
“I was watching this little kid play Astroneer and I was like, ‘Oh geez, good luck kid, that game has no onboarding,’” he shared. “I came back two hours later, and he had made a base that was leaps and bounds above anything I could have fathomed for myself. I was like, ‘Ok, either this kid’s a genius, or survival-game mechanics are just simple enough that they’re universally approachable.’”
Gallegos emphasized that while the genre enjoys strong popularity, player retention tends to be short-term. Audiences often bounce between survival games rather than staying loyal to a single title.
When people drop off, it usually just means they’ve seen all the current content and are waiting for the next update.
Previously, Subnautica 2 was delayed until 2026 to improve certain areas and add more content. Krafton said it was not influenced by contractual considerations from the game’s developer, Unknown Worlds.
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