Ehem ... i don't want to break it to you but Kenshi is not a porn game so that comparison doesn't make sense. Demo is free so obviously it will have more players.
1) it is a
game and serves the same basic functions: to entertain; help with escapism. Porn or not plays no role here.
2) here I want to make two points:
a) paying customers tend to be more invested (duh).
b) PH's PR person argues that with gacha "people hop regularly".
Demo has no gacha while
Beta has.
Thus
Beta (according to PH) should show better performance than
Demo. But it doesn't just use simple KPI of % of p of those playing an hour ago to the peak number.
Demo had 15% of its peak playing an hour ago. Beta just 6% of its peak.
All of these prove how much of a bullshit PH's arguments in defense of online-gacha-shit are.