[2020] Not sure how game-devs haven't figured this out yet

You can't release a multiplayer-only game and charge people to play it. Unless you're one of the major developers/publishers, TOO FEW people will be willing to pay to play your game, and it will very quickly die due to lack of players. It happens surprisingly often, but the results are consistent. I love the look of the game, and I'm personally buying it to try it day one. But the game is DOA due to it's barrier of entry.

You can argue that people should pay for games, you can argue that it might not happen, you can argue whatever you want, but this is the situation that games are in today. People are not willing to pay to play an indie multiplayer game, and then people will not be willing to buy the game because there won't be enough players.

I'll be there on day one, hoping for the best, but I can't realistically expect this game to be any different from the countless games that have failed from the same exact situation. If you think I'm wrong, pop in with a '!remindme' for a month after release and rub it in my face.