Because we just keep spending!! Any of you who have genuinely stopped buying new DLC and are boycotting in the hope of forcing change, fair play to you and also sorry for my weakness. But my pattern seems to be as follows: Complain, complain, complain, say f-it, buy some new content. Complain, complain, complain, short boycott to make me feel better about myself, but then get bored and say f-it and buy some new content!! Rinse and repeat. So what is the incentive for DTG to change? This business model to rush as much DLC out the door as possible, regardless of quality, does seem to be working ok for them, because weak willed souls such as myself keep buying it. So why do something different? They can put out all the surveys they want and try and say all the right things here and elsewhere, but I honestly think they only way things will change is if their bottom line takes a hit and with mugs like me still happy to hand over the hard earned, it doesn't seem likely any time soon. And yes, I am ashamed of my part in this...
I've not purchased any DLC since January, and haven't played much since then either - whereas before this I used to purchase DLC every month or so, and played daily. It just stopped being fun with the bugs and performance issues unfortunately. I really hope they fix them - I would like to get lots of the new content, but just doesn't seem worth it currently when I can't even be bothered to play.
The only DLC I now have on my radar to buy are the JT Preston to Crewe route, which will presumably be Q1 or Q2 next year. Also the Tadami Line but think that is still a way off and the Czech route once it appears. I have no interest in the short Stuttgart route except maybe in six months time when it can be picked up for half price. Time was I would have picked up anything and everything on Day One, but no longer. Quality is down and prices are up. There's a real concern in my mind that DTG don't have the skills or even any in house personnel to begin tackling the core issues. Don't misunderstand, I still (mostly) enjoy playing the game and TSC is once more off my HD. But I have more than enough content to keep me busy without buying yet another DB interurban or UK bus stop route other than in a very deep sale (and maybe not even then).
The core issues will never be resolved if people keep buying regardless. Just went to check my recent spending on TSW : 231€ in 2024 260€ from January to August 2025 0€ from August to the end of 2025 I'm assuming DTG have access to this sort of data via Steam and the other distribution platforms. The sooner the trend of people not buying into their franchise anymore appears, the sooner the big bosses at Focus and PulluP will start demanding answers as to why that might be.
Honestly maybe. I have to concur about wanting to spend less on tsw. Like I love tsw, of course, but that is something that gets harder and harder to do. Like I bought Crewe to Birmingham immediately, as with the JT Pacer for Cardiff. Birmingham to Crewe is of course infamous for blurry textures, and even the Pacer brings the problem to Cardiff, a route that even on Series S, was entirely free from the issue before. And with no sign of the blurry textures issue ever being fixed, assuming it even can be, why should I bother anymore? It's not like I have a shortage of content to play in tsw, and plenty of other games to play as well, especially as I'm not exactly loaded with money either...
Haven't purchased a route since TSW 6. I have the core routes but not bought a dlc (except regrettably the 142) since. I won't be buying anything until blurry textures and screen mode for PlayStation are fixed. Sadly I hardly play anymore compared to a year or two ago. Waiting for ets2 and simrail release now.
yeah, this has always lingered at the back of my mind. DTG keeps pulling stuff off like this, because they know people will buy it regardless, even if the content is bad quality and a percentage of the playerbase complain about it and demand change, this factor has always been, and is their motivation. We are all guilty of this, unfortunately, including myself. It is a hard truth to swallow, but it's definitely a possibility. DTG Releases a DLC with Backlash -> most of the playerbase buy it regardless -> DTG earn profit, run away -> rince and repeat. And the more hype they build up, the more interesting or famous the route is, the more they gain, the more they earn, the more they realize this is their way forward, to MONEEEYYYYY, that's why their budget has been increasing slowly over the years for each release, it's being used to make the next iteration more different and flashy compared to the last game, they throw in a new broken code feature in, and they've then got more profit to do the same for the next iteration, then the next one, then the next one, then it becomes a vicious cycle.
Having discovered (and had it confirmed) that in addition to all the other issues DTG/Rivet couldn’t even be bothered to place mileposts on the Cardiff City route that just reaffirms the OP and my earlier comments. Lazy, sloppy work but they expect us to provide them with a premium price payday then run away and hide when called out or pinged on the forum. So… Matt or whoever is calling the shots on this - no more. Get your quality up and prices down or your player base will start to dwindle away.
Fife Circle Line was the last thing I bought from Rivet Games. I didn't even buy the RhB Arosa Aggregates Pack, even though I'm Swiss. Fife Circle Line war das letzte was ich von Rivet Games gekauft habe. Ich habe nicht einmal das RhB Arosa Aggregates Pack gekauft, obwol ich ein Schweizer bin.
Even if everyone on this forum stopped buying there is still so many other people playing I doubt it would do anything.
In last two years Dovetail focused mainly on acquiring new players and committed everything in that direction, but in the process they lost a lot of the old "whales". At least that's what I feel around my bubble, people who used to buy everything are now buying very sparsely or not at all. Their collection is saturated, there is no need to add another route that overlaps in gameplay with what you already have. It's interesting to view the steam charts for ramp-up of last three iterations at same dates in their year: TSW4: min 1139, max 1498 TSW5: min 1426, max 1667 TSW6: while there is a massive peak at the beginning (2630), from november onwards there is just one peak of 1221, and rest of the line is between 848 and 1090 Lot of people seem to have tried the game (why not, it's free), but the amount of people who stayed actively playing it dropped by 30-40% out of sudden compared to previous years. Lot of people seem to have stayed with TSW5 as well, but those cannot buy newly released content anymore of course, due to the infamous annual release gating business model.
DTG may read a decline in sales as a decline in interest in the genre, not lost sales due to poor quality.
They will still sell the products as a lot of casual gamers will still buy the products even if the loyal fans stop purchasing the same amount. Look how many people pan FIFA or whatever it's called now and call of duty. They still sell a ton even if the loyal player base has taken a few steps back.
We are only about 5% of the player base so it’s not like we would have much effect even if we did do it
I totally understand your point but you probably also know that if DTG were to halt DLC to go back and fix all previous routes as a main focus there would still be a behemoth of complaints here crying about why we aren’t getting more content… I do agree with you that bugs should be getting fixed. 100%. I just don’t see it happening no matter what we do..
I think the secret is not necessarily to stop buying dlc completely but not to go bonkers over it day one. This is patently unnecessary and is why so many new releases are sub standard because they know there are, ahem fanatics, out there who will slap down their money regardless. I don’t do that anymore, I may say such and such is a day one purchase, but in reality I’ll read reviews first and maybe make it a week one purchase if they are good and I really, really want the dlc badly. So yes day one buyers are their own worse enemies.
I'm much more selective about what I buy from DTG and its 3P's than I used to be, because the standards are much lower and prices are not attractive. But clearly lots of players don't share that philosophy, so there's no incentive for DTG to improve the quality and lower the prices of their products. So my Steam wallet gets bigger but has nowhere to go. I can't see myself spending very much this coming year.
I continue to buy TSW content, UK in particular, even if its not my particular thing because I like having lots of different traction options on the DLC I really enjoy. I'm lucky to be a PC player so I appreciate my experience will be very different from those who don't have access to mods. However, I do have a few rules. If it's really not an area of interest, I will wait until the sales (e.g. East Midlands). Likewise if it's getting panned in pre-release reviews but has some new traction that's of interest.(e.g. Cardiff Network) As with TSC I believe that while I'm lucky enough to be able to afford to buy something every couple of months I will because I want TSW to continue to flourish and spread to other areas of the UK and make some DLC that really appeals to me. I see it as an investment that will hopefully pay off in the long-run. Maybe I'm an optimist at heart, maybe it's easier for PC players, maybe it's because I can treat myself once in a while, maybe mods cover over the cracks for me but I don't want to see TSW stop until the next gen simulator comes along from DTG or another developer.
I only buy on sale mostly these days. It's just not worth the risk anymore especially on console. But the only developers I'm prepared to even think about buying new content for at JT or TSG (if their steam rumours come to fruition). The only day 1 purchase I've made is Peak forest and despite the timetable and steam issues it was actually a great release and route. The quality just hasn't been the same recently. But as someone pointed out DTG do have a maddening habit of making a half-baked attempt at something and then when it fails going "People don't like that so we're not doing it again". Even JT got sucked into the trap of CCN with the pacer DLC.
I’m pretty much the same. I only buy the routes I like. I’m not into hoarding every single thing DTG release. Plenty DLC that I would hardly touch to be honest. No point wasting money on it if you’re only going to play it once or twice then never again.For me that would be Glossop Line. I’d play it once then be done with it. Doesn’t look that fun to me.
The fact that you can pick and choose what you want is part of the reason why we spend so much. Boycotting dtg doesn’t help anyone, because then dlcs that people really want may become too difficult.
I am pretty good at not buying day one to be honest. Tend to wait for one or two patches first. But it does all seem to end up in the collection at some point.
Me too, except I’ve cut right back on German routes unless they are from TSG. I still haven’t bought the Dutch route either. Those sort I tend to wait for decent sales. But like you say most creep in eventually.
The idea of DTG halting development of routes to work exclusively on fixing issues in the core is unrealistic. The cash-flow from regular DLC releases is indispensable. However, financial information does not indicate a company under stress, so it should be possible to adapt the method of the old group led by Adam and set up a group with primary focus on improvements to the core and secondary to bug fixes. This might only be a limited fix, since it seems there are major problems with integrating testing.
This is the main issue for me, as I said. Business model is clearly working ok, due to mugs like me, so why change. Yes, do a survey and stick a couple of people on the forums etc to pay some lip service, but why actually worry about dealing with any of the real issues when stuff still sells well.
It's kind of a good thing that there's not a regular release of regional French routes to be honest. It's the only other country that I'd want to buy most releases for, though Portugal comes close. Germany depends, I like busy routes with a choice of local, regional and express services and some interesting scenery or cityscapes. If they don't hit that spot then I tend to wait until they're very cheap.
DTG will not change their approach to making content. If sales dip enough, all that will happen is that they will stop making that kind of content. There are no examples of DTG ever taking a negative outcome in sales, as a chance to make changes/do better, and try again, to see if it sells. But, there are examples of content not selling, and DTG giving up on it. So, the only possible outcome of not buying something is to make sure nothing like it ever gets made again. No fixes will ever come from this. It is also true, as others have said, that there is not enough people "in" on this strategy to make it work, even if it would effect positive change, which it won't. However, I do agree that it makes little sense to buy most of these releases for full price, and on day one. To me, it doesn't make sense to buy something broken when you can get it later with some fixes, and probably at a lower price as well. But that is just me. Other people might be okay with paying full price on day one. The one thing that does bother me is when DTG isn't even honest about what you are getting when you buy something day one. But, they seem to have cleaned that up lately. The only way to effect change is to keep posting on DTG channels. Although certainly no guarantee, I have seen DTG respond to community concerns, even if very rarely. So what I would say is, keep buying if you want to, and don't worry about the message that it sends. The only message DTG hears from sales is that people are still interested in buying that sort of content. They will never hear that you would have bought something, if only it had been made better. They will always just assume that you didn't want that sort of content. But, definitely keep posting. That's what I will be doing, at least until they take the forum away!
They may find themselves with little choice in the matter if sales start to dry up because of the quality issues and core deficit. Sorry but they are not a charity and I don't buy into this feeling sorry for them one little bit. They are making an absolute mint off selling us this stuff otherwise by now they would have done a N3V and moved out of their must be very expensive to lease office space in Chatham, and be working out of a converted shipping container or from home instead. We owe them nothing... And if they did go under and TSW ceased production, well the world would keep spinning. Plenty of other train games out there or games generally to last me until I shuffle off this mortal coil.
We are not the problem. Never have been, never will be. This is not how we should be thinking. Its basically letting them tell us its our fault TSW is in the state its in. DTG hold full responsibility for everything, their playerbase should not be shouldering the blame. If we were the problem, then we would be praising TSW and DTG at every opportunity and there would be no criticism at all.
I buy content for both Xbox and steam. I bought TSW deluxe for Xbox and recently in the sale l bought TSW 6 special version for steam as l didn’t have Cardiff and Zwolle routes from completing my collection for TSW 5. I was surprised that they didn’t install into TSW 5 as well. If l buy a TSW4 product it installs into 5 and 6. DTG told me if l want these two routes for TSW5 l have to purchase them again for a third time. If l had bought them for 5 then they would automatically installs into 6. l am sorry but l have had it with DTG, as l don’t think anyone should have to buy the same product three times. l was going to buy CTS and their newly advertised New York metro, but won’t bother now.
I read on a separate thread that ETS2 is coming to console (I live under a rock and hadn't realised this was officially announced) and it'll be really interesting to see how that goes across from PC to console in the grand scheme of the issues TSW and DTG are having.
Don't feel too bad. I believe a lot of the revenue comes from console purchases. These individuals aren't even part of the forum or Discord servers, so don't know the history behind the company they're buying from.
Apologies. I meant to say the majority aren't part of these communities. On a side note, I suggest investing in a good PC.
Honestly, the real thing which can change the game is when (or if) strong competitor will arrive to this genre (especially when we are talking about consoles).
The "grand scheme of the issues" comes from DTG's own problems, not the inherent task of developing for consoles. Bare in mind there were lots of TSC routes which ran like garbage despite being made for one platform too. Also we got to bare in mind TSW is a console game, vast majority of its content was at least supposed to be designed with that in mind. As far as truck sim goes, frankly the game on PC as is already can run on half a potato, I've played it on my laptop for example, it's very playable while still looking very decent. Not saying you couldn't screw up a port, after all, Ubisoft figured out how to make Tetris run poorly one time, anything's possible. But if SCS QA holds up as well as it normally does I have zero doubt those games will run well on Series S, much less X or PS5.
A lot of forum posters are on console, they just don't subscribe to the defeatest attitude of needing to buy a PC, unless you think that is the valid solution, stop complaining and spend a few grand on better equipment, I guess that is easier for DTG than improving the game.
I have bought no new content since Manchester Airport Commuter (July 2025), due to pricing and poor reviews
The use case for consoles vs. PCs is just different. I get reasonable TSW performance on my XBOX Series X, and while I'm under no illusions that it has disadvantages vs. PC, it's completely idiot-proof and I have it hooked up to a huge OLED panel and a multi-speaker home cinema sound set-up which greatly enhances the train driving experience. My son has a ninja gaming PC, and while I'm tempted for the performance uplift, cheaper TSW DLC and mods, there's no way I want a noisy behemoth like that whirring away in my cinema room, pissing me off with driver updates and other PC nonsense. I think my XBOX Ally X will be the nearest I get to PC for now.
Sorry, but a console's quality bar does not evolve around Train Sim World....there are more than enough examples out there to suggest that the overall performance of this game falls well below achievable standards. Also, suggesting that people buy a "good PC" is a bit of a cop-out solution because guess what? Even PC gamers are desperately unhappy with the quality and direction of the simulation, so all we're actually going to do is transfer our levels of disappointment to another platform...albeit, minus one or two console specific issues. TSW's overall quality is currently in an accelerating freefall and to answer the op's question: Yes, the fault lies with every individual who ignores that fact. I'm not saying don't buy anything ever again (it would be morally incorrect of me to suggest that), but what I am saying is that if you choose to continue making purchases (full price or otherwise) then you cannot complain after the fact, you have to accept the consequences of your actions...
Excellent response, particularly "so all we're actually going to do is transfer our levels of disappointment to another platform...albeit, minus one or two console specific issues". Spot on.
There is some truth to the fact that the forum is not the majority of players. There's also truth to the fact that not every DLC is the same. A "blanket boycott" is kind of silly. If you only buy high quality content that you want (such as Just Trains or TSG if those are your thing) then that speaks in the sales figures.. If nothing comes out that you want to buy, that says something too. In fact, if you continue to buy qualify content when you find it, that tells them that you didn't lose interest in the game or trains or whatever. You are just saving your money for the "good stuff." Perhaps people are overthinking this.
