Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

Releasing a Game Has Grown Much Harder?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 20, 2015

GSB2_SS5According to Cliff Harris, releasing an indie game in 2015 (in this case, Gratuitous Space Battles 2) is much harder in 2015 than it was only two years ago. Or, as he says it: “Of more interest will be what I’m learning about releasing a game in 2015 vs one in 2013. Holy f**k, its got harder. [H]ere are some observations.”

Cliff is a seasoned pro who’s been doing the indie thing successfully for a long time, so his opinion carries a lot of weight for me:

Well my game is on sale…time to relax? Ahahahaha

It’s worth noting his observations, but the general points are – the price-point “race to the bottom” is continuing in full force, with people now ignoring launch discounts while waiting for the seasonal 50% sales. It’s increasingly difficult (and expensive) to get any attention to a new game. And it’s really hard to get people to leave Steam reviews.

For the price-point problem, I am being programmed to follow that behavior too, especially when I have more games than I have time to play right now, anyway. Unless I *really* want to play it as soon as it launches, I just assume it’ll take me a year or two to get around to it anyway, and so I’ll snag it when it goes on sale. I think the real solution to this is going to have to be on the developer’s side (as we are currently seeing in a handful of AAA titles) – rewards exclusive to early adopters / launch customers / full-price customers, etc.

As far as getting attention is concerned – I wish I knew the answer.

That last one though… this is something I think we gamers who love indie titles can contribute to. Try to leave reviews – especially if you really like the game. It’ll both help inform future customers, and help the game gain more visibility, so you are helping both sides with very little effort. The audience of this blog tends to be the kind of game fans with informed opinions, so I think your reviews will be very helpful to others.

Anyway, as always… have fun!


Filed Under: Game Development - Comments: 3 Comments to Read



  • Maklak said,

    I usually wait three months to over a year before playing a new game. Meanwhile ther’s usually lots of playability and stability patches and maybe an expansion pack or two.

  • Mephane said,

    “For the price-point problem, I am being programmed to follow that behavior too, especially when I have more games than I have time to play right now, anyway. Unless I *really* want to play it as soon as it launches, I just assume it’ll take me a year or two to get around to it anyway, and so I’ll snag it when it goes on sale. I think the real solution to this is going to have to be on the developer’s side (as we are currently seeing in a handful of AAA titles) – rewards exclusive to early adopters / launch customers / full-price customers, etc.”

    I agree with the assessment, but not with the conclusion.

    I tend to wait for a later discount on many a game if they are singleplayer anyway (or I am not interested in their multiplayer component) and it is not one of those titles that I simply can’t wait to play; like, some games I follow long before release and am eager to get my hands on as early as possible, those are the ones I preorder, try to get into beta programs etc. In my case, these included games like Saints Row 4, Portal 2 (yes, these are not indie), Elite Dangerous (only semi-indie as in the developer goes without publisher, but is a proper and successful game company and not a small team at all), Kerbal Space Program (I think this one counts as indie?), or the upcoming Good Robot (definitely indie and I am going to preorder the heck out of it once that option becomes available).

    But as a customer, I highly dislike the concept preorder- and launch-exclusive game content; I am not talking about physical items that come with a boxed game, or things like a free soundtrack album or season pass that later would simply cost extra, but actual exclusive ingame content – items, missions, quests, maps etc.
    I am the type who prefers to have their games complete, and knowing I miss out on some stuff, even if it seems minor, is at best annoying, at worst can make me reconsider any plans to buy a game in the first place. Some games alleviate this issue by offering all preorder and special edition content for later customers at an extra price. I remember Borderlands 2 offering a DLC that basically added everything you would have got for free if you had preordered; or Elder Scrolls Online, which now allows you to buy the special edition bonuses in their online store, so anyone who joins now doesn’t have to miss out on that, but also has to pay a premium just like the launch customers.

    And as for the people who are upset that their deemed “exclusive” stuff is not exclusive any more when you can buy it later – I have absolutely no sympathy with that attitude. I want gaming to be an inclusive hobby, not one where every corner you stumble about some “you can’t have what I have” situation; especially since digital content is, unlike physical objects, trivially replicated.

    Okay, after that bit of negativity here is something constructive, how you can get me to buy your game at full price at launch, or even preorder/pre-purchase:

    – Season Pass for DLC
    – For episodic games, all future episodes included.
    – Soundtrack, digital art book included
    – Being multiplayer-only, if your game has a good prospect of long-term activity*.
    – Have me really hooked for the game long before launch. Be it that you cover a niche that I find highly lacking in titles (Elite Dangerous – most space games are either 4X/Empire builders/classical RTS, or traditional mission based games, not open world GTA-ish), be it that you show how it is done right, where AAA utterly disappoints (Cities: Skylines), or simply have something unique to offer that I cannot find in any other game (Kerbal Space Program, the entire Saints Row series).

    *Not that I particularly prefer multiplayer-only games, but this is a point that can make me want to play a game right at launch instead of waiting for a discount a year later. However, this only works when I can expect the multiplayer community to be thriving for a long time; it is a sad but probably inevitable situation that many an indie multiplayer-only game soon after release suffers from low player numbers, leading to very few matches even starting in the first place. For multiplayer-only to work, you need a big enough user-base that will stick around and not binge-play it for 1-2 weeks and then move on, leaving online servers and game lobbies mostly empty.

  • Namco said,

    I *almost* went down the pre-order route recently when Alien Isolation came out but was stopped when I saw blogs on why I shouldn’t do so – a lot were talking about how pre-ordering was anti-consumer and I pretty much agreed.

    The race-to-bottom on pricing from a consumers stand-point? I’m the same as you, will buy the game at full price if I REALLY want it (which is few and far between nowadays) but will take some games at sale prices. Mind you though, I have been good on that note and will try and justify the purchase based on “Will I have time to play it?” and the likely hood that the game will still be there in a year or so’s time when I do have the time to play it. But the availability is a problem (especially on Steam) as I recently wanted to play Wolfenstein (2009) and was sure that Steam had it at one point but it isn’t there anymore. I haven’t seen this with GoG though, thankfully.

    As for reviews, speaking as a digital marketer, that has always been a pain in the ass to get, no matter what product it is. You’ll have to think of creative ways to get those to leave a review.

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