Helios

VS

The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War

Helios is a VR-focused open world sandbox action-adventure game released in 2021 by relatively unknown indie publishers. While it has some social and sandbox elements, it isn't widely recognized or widely covered in major gaming circles. As an indie VR title, especially outside major VR hits, the active daily player base likely remains quite small, in the low hundreds.

The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War is a licensed mobile RTS/strategy game by NetEase, released in late 2021. While initial launch interest was strong thanks to the IP and solid marketing, typical player retention for mobile strategy games stabilizes at a lower active base over time. NetEase titles perform well in Asian and international markets but generally see gradual decline after 2-3 years. As a mobile-focused, session-based game (not a full persistent MMO), it likely maintains around 70,000 daily active players globally by mid-2024.