Not sure about the lukewarm comment but honestly haven’t looked into game sales all that much. Based on the few things I have seen they have decent sales, and retention is something that comes with time/updates.
People should understand that it takes years to get to the point of rivalling something like Dbd, they’ve had 4 years of a 3 month release schedule. We’re still in the fourth month, and I’m reasonably sure illfonic gave themselves a 1 month leeway for getting the next map (likely singular) out.
They did build the challenges for Friday while also adding new maps to the game Ie. Jarvis house and Pinehurst. From my understanding the challenges were developed entirely after release of the game. (If an illfonic peep wants to correct me feel free).
There’s different angles than a traditional story mode that this game is ideal for. I think things that grow the active player base are a net positive, even if they are solo.