What is the secret of competitiveness or what do consumers/users want?

Question

Programming

It's no secret that a combination of many different factors affects the development of any project. In this issue, I would like to touch on the example of a game server as a project. They won't even name the game. For the question concerns relativity and competition with other, similar game servers.
So. I would like to know the aspects (maybe someone came across) raising the number of players playing on the server. In this area (game) there are projects with a very large online (simultaneously playing). And the whole joke is that these projects are very, very inferior to startups in terms of their functionality. However, they are in great demand. Although they have at their disposal a nondescript site and maintenance of the players by the administration.
What is such a secret? What do the players want? If judged abstractly.
I will immediately answer those who want to answer something like - "why do they need another project, if you can play on the first one." There is an opportunity to get promoted here, but advertising is not cheap.