Blood Bowl 3 data reveals 70-80% of games played solo, spurring AI overhaul

A long-standing divide in the Blood Bowl community over whether players prefer singleplayer or multiplayer has been settled by data. Between 70 and 80% of Blood Bowl 3 games were played solo in Eternal Leagues, according to Cyanide programmer Mathieu Valero in an interview with Wargamer.

Valero acknowledged the game's launch state was poor. "It was a mess, like there's no two ways about it," he said. One major weakness was the CPU opponent. "We didn't have an AI—now we do," he explained, referring to improvements coming in the successor, Warhammer Blood Bowl.

The new AI will have limitations but aims to provide reliable opposition. "There are still a bunch of factions and builds that it's more able to play well: you want to give it Guard and Block, and don't go fancy with the combos that a human would be able to do," Valero said. "But give something reliable to the AI, and you're gonna have a game to play."

Beyond AI, the menu systems are being completely redesigned. The homepage, which Valero described as "a gigantic waste of space," will become a customizable tile-based interface. Players will be able to pin active competitions to the home page rather than hunting through submenus.

Warhammer Blood Bowl will be published by Slitherine and is planned for release by the end of the year. Current Blood Bowl 3 owners will receive the game as a free upgrade.