It feels like it because that’s exactly what happens. Most AAA games experience large influx of initial number of players that drops significantly after a few weeks. That is the usual cycle. Most AAA games have their marketing campaigns climax at the game’s launch, which means a lot of players will give the game a try. It’s actually very rare for more than half of players who pick a game to actually finish it. The > 50% of players who drop the game do so for a variety of reasons - they they get busy, they don’t really like the game, they start another game they were interested in, they go back to an old favorite game, they go join their friends in another game, and so on and so forth. This is normal and not unexpected.

ALT

As for why people are obsessed with it, I believe it is because humans are emotional creatures and put a lot of that emotional investment into things they like (such as games). If a person likes something, they usually want it to do well and feel some amount of happiness if the thing they like does well. If a person dislikes something, they usually wish it ill and feel some amount of happiness if the thing they dislike is failing. If a person gets very emotionally invested in a game that ends up disappointing them for some reason, it’s very much like a jilted lover situation - all that positive emotion turns bitter and they become super invested in seeing the object of their bitterness fail.

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