inZOI lost 96% of its players, but big modding updates are on the way

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For more than a month now, inZOI has been available in Early Access, and it started off with a bang, attracting over 87,000 individuals intrigued by its enhanced version of the life simulation genre. However, since then, the number of players has been gradually decreasing. As promised in their roadmap, mod support is on the horizon, but the question remains: will this addition be sufficient to lure players back or attract new ones?

The state of inZOI’s Early Access

As a devoted gamer, I can’t help but notice that it’s fairly common for games launched in Early Access to experience a significant drop in player numbers within a few months, even when they kick off with a bang. This isn’t unusual at all – many players explore the game, understand its premise, and then decide to hold off until it’s more polished or request a refund if it doesn’t resonate with them.

In inZOI‘s situation, the decline seemed unusually quick, perhaps even excessively so. There could be several explanations for this: the game might have been too challenging for the typical player with a mid-tier PC, or it didn’t live up to the expectations of the audience, or possibly it hasn’t received enough updates during Early Access to keep players engaged.

However, let me clarify that it’s rather uncommon for a development team to roll out a significant update so soon after an Early Access debut. At this stage, the majority of efforts are typically directed towards bug fixing, resolving technical glitches, and making adjustments based on player input. The inZOI developers have been commendable in this regard, demonstrating a high level of responsiveness and active participation within their community, particularly on their official Discord server. Their approach to communication and interaction with players is truly noteworthy, serving as an excellent model for other teams to follow.

They’ve implemented some notable modifications, such as reducing the frequency of awkward interactions and enhancing the shading system to prevent characters from appearing eerie at night. Moreover, the much-requested feature to disable character aging has been introduced. As stated in today’s announcement by inZOI Studio, mod support is expected to be released in mid-May with regular updates every two months.

Modding is coming soon, but what about all the other stuff?

ModKit officially launches in May, offering tools for personalizing characters’ attire and home decor, as well as a user-friendly interface that simplifies the process of adjusting game data. The upcoming September update expands these capabilities, allowing users to alter character attributes such as faces and hair, and customize building components. Additionally, it will enable the creation of interactive content like dialogues, voiceovers, rewards, and animations. By December, most costumes should be modifiable, and users will have access to interaction script editing tools and localization features. (It seems that we can expect more sophisticated mods than some of the peculiar ones found on Nexus.)

The developers intend to continuously gather input from players for the purpose of enhancing modding, beginning with a ModKit-centric Ask Me Anything session and introducing a fresh feedback platform.

Based on the development roadmap they unveiled in March, it appears that we’ll be getting some exciting new features quite soon, such as in-game cheat codes and an adoption system. Moreover, August is when we can expect the much-anticipated additions of swimming pools, freelancer jobs, and other enhancements to roll out.

Recently, they’ve increased the selection of outfits and furniture, which is a pleasant addition, however, it seems that many players are eagerly anticipating a substantial amount of new content before fully re-engaging with the game. The modding tools are undoubtedly intriguing and something many of us look forward to experimenting with. Nevertheless, I believe most players are more thrilled about the DLC scheduled for release in August. Ultimately, the game could benefit from additional activities to maintain player interest.

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2025-05-09 13:22