If you’re aiming to get millions of players, I think [no music at all] would be counterproductive. There’s a reason almost every non-trivial game in existence has music. Of course it’s also nice if it’s simple to turn off / customize / replace—but it’s usually a mistake to expect that a high proportion of players are going to significantly customize things.
Music is a way to get some immediate emotional engagement without making meaningful design concessions (most other mechanisms imply some more significant design constraint). If you want millions of players, you want immediate emotional engagement.
If you’re aiming to get millions of players, I think [no music at all] would be counterproductive. There’s a reason almost every non-trivial game in existence has music. Of course it’s also nice if it’s simple to turn off / customize / replace—but it’s usually a mistake to expect that a high proportion of players are going to significantly customize things.
Music is a way to get some immediate emotional engagement without making meaningful design concessions (most other mechanisms imply some more significant design constraint). If you want millions of players, you want immediate emotional engagement.