Looks like they are losing players to Bovada and BCP/ACR. The other 2 sites have been establishing themselves the last couple of years.

I'm sure the change in tournament structure is a big reason why those numbers are so drastic. They cut there smallest buy-in tourneys and the ridiculous late regs and having all tourneys re-entries just doesn't appeal to most MTT players. I wonder how much less they are taking in with rake though, I bet it's not nearly as big of a difference with the change in structure. I also wonder how many of the players that left were players that never deposited and only played the open freerolls and took a shot at MTTs like the 6 cent rebuy.

During that time, they also dropped several skins, and players with accounts on different skins were probably being counted for each account.

As far as trying to attract new players, I'm not sure Merge has many options there, at least as far as the US goes. It's extremely difficult to advertise past and most US players that are comfortable playing on a site after BF have already tried Merge. If they want to increase traffic, they need to work on attracting former players and bring them back to the site.

Another reason players might not be choosing Carbon are cashout times. I'm happy with receiving a check in 3-4 weeks, but Bovada is kicking their ass with 1 week cashout times. I'm not sure what BCP/ACR times are.