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Jonneh3003 · Jul 22, 2017

So the other day SMG Studio, the developer of Death Squared, tweeted this:

While we don't have access to the same sales data as they do we can check SteamSpy which details that the game has sold 1,454 ± 1,272 on the Steam platform. Not great numbers

Exact Switch figures have not yet been shared with the public but the developers seems very happy with how the game has performed on Switch and this is backed with with a #7 rank on the UK eShop:

Machina · Jul 22, 2017

Just another symptom of the Steam store being clogged up with unmitigated, uncurated trash. Valve have gone with the Android/App store approach and it is a huge discredit to them.

Antiwhippy · Jul 22, 2017

I mean you're comparing the more overcrowded market vs a market that needs to be crowded much more.

cw_sasuke · Jul 22, 2017

Well there is a reason why so many Indie devs wanna get their games on Switch asap...the plattform is great for this type of games and there isnt as much competition as on the other more established platforms.

Antiwhippy said:
I mean you're comparing the more overcrowded market vs a market that needs to be crowded much more.

While true...the Steam/PC market is also much much bigger - so usually a game should perform better even if it can only attract a smaller part of the overcrowded market. Well you would at least hope so as a dev.

Garrett Hawke · Jul 22, 2017

Antiwhippy said:
I mean you're comparing the more overcrowded market vs a market that needs to be crowded much more.

Mmhmm

On Steam you can play pretty much everything. Whereas on Switch you have a much smaller library ATM.

Maintenance · Jul 22, 2017

Maximo · Jul 22, 2017

Machina said:
Just another symptom of the Steam store being clogged up with unmitigated, uncurated trash. Valve have gone with the Android/App store approach and it is a huge discredit to them.

I mean or the switch fanbase being ravenous for any and all games.

Jonneh3003 · Jul 22, 2017

Garrett Hawke said:
Mmhmm

On Steam you can play pretty much everything. Whereas on Switch you have a much smaller library ATM.

I agree but it's still impressive that the game found an audience seeming as it released the week before Splatoon 2 and the same day as multiple other indies such as Levels+, De Mambo and Bulb Boy.

Plum · Jul 22, 2017

Maximo said:
I mean or the switch fanbase being ravenous for any and all games.

Must be why Vroom in the Night Sky was such a huge success.

wrowa · Jul 22, 2017

Machina said:
Just another symptom of the Steam store being clogged up with unmitigated, uncurated trash. Valve have gone with the Android/App store approach and it is a huge discredit to them.

Even if you disregard all of the trash completely, there's an endless amount of quality indie games on Steam. The problem isn't just that good games get drowned in bad games, it's that there are so many good games that it's hard even for good games to gain visibility among other good games.

Switch on the other hand has a userbase that is hungry for more but only a modest amount of new releases each week. It's much easier to be seen this way.

If all good indie titles would release on Switch, games like Death Squared would have similar visibility problems.

watershed · Jul 22, 2017

I hope the game continues to do well for them on the Switch. It seems like it flew under the radar but I guess enough people have taken notice of it. Those Steam sales are ouch.

Jonneh3003 · Jul 22, 2017

watershed said:
I hope the game continues to do well for them on the Switch. It seems like it flew under the radar but I guess enough people have taken notice of it. Those Steam sales are ouch.

I feel like it's the kind of game that people will buy once it goes on sale. Hopefully the Steam numbers see a boost soon.

EricTheCleric · Jul 22, 2017

An unknown indie games sells poorly on a highy competitive marketplace but good on an underdeveloped desolate marketplace. Quelle surprise

Yohane · Jul 22, 2017

Dunno, sounds really a niche game

Leonsito · Jul 22, 2017

Good games on Steam are buried on a pile of trash and broken games, it needs regulation asap.

Maximo · Jul 22, 2017

Plum said:
Must be why Vroom in the Night Sky was such a huge success.

Come off it sorry should I have added any and all *decent* games? Quick search shows it barely looks like a game at all.

Drackhorn · Jul 22, 2017

EricTheCleric said:
An unknown indie games sells poorly on a highy competitive marketplace but good on an underdeveloped desolate marketplace. Quelle surprise

I guess we're done here.

Garrett Hawke · Jul 22, 2017

Leonsito said:
Good games on Steam are buried on a pile of trash and broken games, it needs regulation asap.

Yep. On Switch, games are only surrounded by other quality titles like Vroom Vroom In The Night Sky

taoofjord · Jul 22, 2017

Niche game for sure and the entire ecosystem is over saturated. Which isn't the case on the Switch and won't be for a couple more years.

Anyway, the game is pretty decent. I picked it up on launch and have enjoyed my time with it so far.

ksamedi · Jul 22, 2017

Seems like a natural fit for Switch. Bed multiplayer is pretty awesome after having good sex. Just sayin.

TheTrain · Jul 22, 2017

I feel like that these days everything is a good pretext to shit on Steam

Leonsito · Jul 22, 2017

Garrett Hawke said:
Yep. On Switch, games are only surrounded by other quality titles like Vroom Vroom In The Night Sky

You can't be surrounded by only one bad game !

LordKano · Jul 22, 2017

Garrett Hawke said:
Yep. On Switch, games are only surrounded by other quality titles like Vroom Vroom In The Night Sky

Name a single other shovelware than this one. You won't find it. Currently, the curation works on Switch and most games available are quality ones.

JoeInky · Jul 22, 2017

Local co-op games just don't sell that well on PC, especially when it's something noones ever heard of.

I wonder how long we're going to be hearing "people only bought it because there's nothing else to play on switch" for.

Usobuko · Jul 22, 2017

EricTheCleric said:
An unknown indie games sells poorly on a highy competitive marketplace but good on an underdeveloped desolate marketplace. Quelle surprise

Yep.

There are so many stuff on steam that people would go to first before they ventured into the extreme niche, that's including the niche-but-not-very-niche stuff.

2+2=5 · Jul 22, 2017

Machina said:
Just another symptom of the Steam store being clogged up with unmitigated, uncurated trash. Valve have gone with the Android/App store approach and it is a huge discredit to them.

Switch owners don't have as many games to choose from as PC owners, even without the garbage.

michaelius · Jul 22, 2017

Machina said:
Just another symptom of the Steam store being clogged up with unmitigated, uncurated trash. Valve have gone with the Android/App store approach and it is a huge discredit to them.

Or a symptom of mature platform with thousands of games and huge backlogs vs new platform where people are hungry for software with much lower competition.

plushyp · Jul 22, 2017

Plum said:
Must be why Vroom in the Night Sky was such a huge success.

I laughed at the name right now. Didn't even know about it.

Harlequin · Jul 22, 2017

Leonsito said:
You can't be surrounded by only one bad game !

"Other quality titles like [...]"

DalikSkywing · Jul 22, 2017

Local coop only and he's surprised it's not selling on PC. Lmao.

FyreWulff · Jul 22, 2017

It's just like Kickstarter. It's no longer enough to just be on the platform.

Mechazawa · Jul 22, 2017

Machina said:
Just another symptom of the Steam store being clogged up with unmitigated, uncurated trash. Valve have gone with the Android/App store approach and it is a huge discredit to them.

The Boat · Jul 22, 2017

Now is the time to put the foot in the door when it comes to the switch. Devs can either take advantage of this period and establish a userbase or wait for their precious test games to fail, so they have an excuse for missing out later.

Weltall Zero · Jul 22, 2017

wrowa said:
Even if you disregard all of the trash completely, there's an endless amount of quality indie games on Steam. The problem isn't just that good games get drowned in bad games, it's that there are so many good games that it's hard even for good games to gain visibility among other good games.

Exactly this. I am 100% convinced people that think that the issue is "trash games drowning good games on Steam" don't actually give a fuck about indie games on Steam. There's no way to have even a passing interest and commitment to buying and playing indie games and not realizing the insane amount of excellent titles that are on Steam.

cw_sasuke · Jul 22, 2017

One thing is that me and many other people already have their Steam Libary filled with a dozen of very good indie games they never even got to play...so unless a new indie title is the best game ever i wont even think about purchasing it.

The likelihood of me playing a game on Switch is much higher than playing it on the PC/big screen.

AmFreak · Jul 22, 2017

1. Niche genre
2. No Online MP
3. OC score of 74

What's the selling point here?

ieptbarakat · Jul 22, 2017

The price, local multiplayer only, and the fact that it's a block game makes it hard to stand out in the massive pile of games on Steam.

So it's understandable that it would sell better on the Switch instead.

On the Switch the price looks better comparatively, Switch users are more likely to enjoy local multiplayer, and Switch owners are still thirsty for games so they won't likely be discouraged by the block aesthetic.

Sarcastico · Jul 22, 2017

Local only mp is a huge factor imo.

KHlover · Jul 22, 2017

I have more games in my steam account than there are available on the Switch total, so the size of the respective store miiiight have something to do with the sales we see here.

User123456 · Jul 22, 2017

I think we're gonna see this story repeat itself with many indies. I expect Azure Striker Pack on Switch to sell much better than Gunvolt 1 on Steam, ditto for Sonic Mania.

Shantae half genie hero would have been the same if it hadn't been late, methinks.

If you buy on Switch, you can play the game whenever, wherever, however you want with no sacrifices.

Budi · Jul 22, 2017

Congrats on the success with Switch, I'll try to keep this game in mind next time my friend asks me for couch co-op games on PC. Though I feel I will forget this, first time ever hearing about the game even.

Antiwhippy · Jul 22, 2017

Rukumouru said:
I think we're gonna see this story repeat itself with many indies. I expect Azure Striker Pack on Switch to sell much better than Gunvolt 1 on Steam, ditto for Sonic Mania.

Shantae half genie hero would have been the same if it hadn't been late, methinks.

If you buy on Switch, you can play the game whenever, wherever, however you want with no sacrifices.

And you also don't have the choices steam offers.

MoogleMan · Jul 22, 2017

Really I blame their reluctance to put it on sale as a factor in why their steam numbers are so low.

They know the steam sale mentality...

Relaxed Muscle · Jul 22, 2017

Machina said:
Just another symptom of the Steam store being clogged up with unmitigated, uncurated trash. Valve have gone with the Android/App store approach and it is a huge discredit to them.

That's....bullshit.

The problem is that the number of Steam games is infinitely bigger than on Switch. There's a lot of competition on the platform, while on Swicth your game may be more visible and has less games to compete with in your genre.

People think that just putting your indie game on Steam will magically make it famous or something.

Chauzu · Jul 22, 2017

All I'm reading from this thread is more devs should take advantage of the growing Switch userbase.

Usobuko · Jul 22, 2017

Relaxed Muscle said:
That's....bullshit.

The problem is that the number of Steam games is infinitely bigger than on Switch. There's a lot of competition on the platform, while on Swicth your game may be more visible and has less games to compete with in your genre.

People think that just putting your indie game on Steam will magically make it famous or something.

Exactly, I have never heard of this game but from the top of my head if there's an indie I wanna buy on any platform atm it's Hollow Knight, Rime, What Remains of Edith Finch and maybe Nex Machina or Little Nightmares.

These get prioritized from the good words-of-mouth over the Internet.

Ivan 3414 · Jul 22, 2017

JoeInky said:
I wonder how long we're going to be hearing "people only bought it because there's nothing else to play on switch" for.

Any game that sells well will get that excuse. Regardless of the game's quality.

GwyndolinCinder · Jul 22, 2017

I mean the size of the store plays a role in whats happened, but it really just comes down to "Did people hear about your game".

You plop a great game on steam with no marketing, yea its gonna get buried.
You plop a great game on the switch store, which highly favours new releases then its probably going to get some attention.

This is ignoring the fact that playing local multiplayer on a switch is amazing,
and on pc it sucks.

Oregano · Jul 22, 2017

Chauzu said:
All I'm reading from this thread is more devs should take advantage of the growing Switch userbase.

Yeah its amazing how its continually used to dismiss the success of Switch/Nintendo platform games despite the fact that it actually means there is a big opportunity for smaller developers.

Jonneh3003 · Jul 22, 2017

AmFreak said:
1. Niche genre
2. No Online MP
3. OC score of 74

What's the selling point here?

That's unfair to the game and developers. It's a fantastic puzzle game that really shines when playing locally with friends.

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