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[Dusk Golem]

Shovel knight got most of their sales from the Wii-U i think they said. Not releasing a game on the switch shop is pretty dumb since you know the fanbase will buy everything up since the system gets no support from any big developers.

Nintendo isn't letting most developers on the Switch right now, even if they have a well received game that found critical or even commercial success. A lot of this is less developers passing on things and Nintendo being very restrictive in unnecessary ways.

 

[Keinning]

Shovel knight got most of their sales from the Wii-U i think they said. Not releasing a game on the switch shop is pretty dumb since you know the fanbase will buy everything up since the system gets no support from any big developers. Also it's still a very fresh system that doesn't have a million games yet.

if every indie developer target switch for their releases as well then the switch will lose its edge over other platforms as a smaller, better curated/more focused library and become the same thing both in visibility and sales- the death squareds would still disappear in the middle of several other switch puzzle games. unless you believe switch users will buy everything just because its on the platform, which is far from true.

 

[SmokedMeat]

There is, but on Switch I'm pushed a news item informing me of every release, like I said. On Steam, I get nothing (outside a banner highlighting 4 or 5 games upon launching Steam), and I have to manually go to the store (steam normally only displays my list of games), then manually go to new releases (the store doesn't really highlight the new releases), then manually find a way to see every last one (even new release section only shows a small subset of the new releases, curated, so I'd be missing a bunch, not sure how do you even do this). On mobile it's even harder I believe.

Just to check I fired up my Steam mobile app, and my Steam homepage has a "New and Trending" section on the front page if I scroll down a little. This is in addition to the "Discovery Queue" and "New Releases" buttons all on my front page.

At home on my PC I know my front page also has the New Releases section, but it should be noted that this is all up to how you configure your page. If someone wants this information made available to them, they can set it so.

It's real easy for people to say Steam isn't doing a good enough job of highlighting new releases, but then no other platform aside from mobile is in a similar situation where new games are constantly popping up on an almost daily basis.

 

[kiguel182]

The Switch store doesn’t seem ready to open the floodgates. Discovery needs to improve before they allow it. Hopefully next year things will be looking better in that front.

 

[primasaurus]

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.

^this

 

[Ludens]

In my opinion the fact is Switch really lacks games at the moment, while you can find hundred of similar titles on Steam. So it's much easier to sell the game on the Nintendo's platform compared to other stores.

 

[GhostTrick]

Shovel knight got most of their sales from the Wii-U i think they said. Not releasing a game on the switch shop is pretty dumb since you know the fanbase will buy everything up since the system gets no support from any big developers. Also it's still a very fresh system that doesn't have a million games yet.

Their best selling platform was PC/Steam

 

[Gotdatmoney]

Are the sales for smaller games good on every newly released system then? You'd have me thinking launching a game on a new platform equals instant success the way some people around here are talking.

 

[Oregano]

Are the sales for smaller games good on every newly released system then? You'd have me thinking launching a game on a new platform equals instant success the way some people around here are talking.

Just look how well Wii U games sold!

 

[Chauzu]

Their best selling platform was PC/Steam

Still interesting to see over 40% of sales were on Nintendo platforms. Makes sense they wanted it out on Switch day 1.

 

[chrominance]

Clearly something went very, very, very wrong if you release a game and it only sells a couple hundred copies.

Is this actually true? Because if so, aren't things going very, very, very wrong for a lot of indie developers these days? Here's a list of everything that released on Steam between March 13-18, 2017 (the week Death Squared was released) that wasn't free, and their current owners count on SteamSpy with margin of error. Death Squared is highlighted in bold; games I felt were published by non-indie or semi-indie publishers (admittedly a HIGHLY subjective and fallible distinction) are highlighted in italics. The usual caveats about SteamSpy numbers apply, especially for games with low owner/player counts. Also, stealth edit HOLY SHIT THIS LIST IS LONG I'M SORRY.

NieR:Automata (59.99, Square Enix): 505,437 ±19,468
Cat Goes Platform (1.99, Fourinon union): 147,329 ±10,515
Trolley Gold (1.99, Mantis Games): 146,740 ±10,494
Western FPS (0.99, Dark Light Studio): 123,167 ±9,614
Heaven Forest NIGHTS (0.99, Chubby Pixel): 120,810 ±9,522
Last Tale (0.99, YarGri): 103,720 ±8,823
Absoloot (3.99, Dagestan Technology): 101,559 ±8,731
The Butterfly Sign: Human Error (4.99, Quantum Phoenix Studio): 87,022 ±8,082
28 Waves Later (4.99, Dagestan Technology): 86,630 ±8,063
Introvert Quest (4.99, Amaterasu Software): 74,254 ±7,465
GRUZCHIK (0.99, BadDoge, NDPendent Games): 66,396 ±7,059
SENRAN KAGURA ESTIVAL VERSUS (39.99, XSEED Games, Marvelous USA, Inc.): 47,538 ±5,973
Dead Rising 4 (59.99, Capcom): 47,145 ±5,949
Styx: Shards of Darkness (39.99, Focus Home Interactive): 44,002 ±5,747
Detective Noir (4.99, AEY Inc.): 42,234 ±5,630
Clone Drone in the Danger Zone (14.99, Doborog Games): 35,555 ±5,166
Kona (19.99, Parabole): 34,966 ±5,123
aMAZE (0.99, Blender Games): 33,395 ±5,007
Permute (1.99, Cleverweek): 29,859 ±4,734
Train Sim World: CSX Heavy Haul (39.99, Dovetail Games): 29,859 ±4,734
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (19.99, Nightdive Studios): 27,894 ±4,576
Trianguluv (1.99, Atara Games): 25,930 ±4,412
Monster Monpiece (19.99, Idea Factory International): 15,519 ±3,413
Cubic complex (0.99, Kedexa): 14,929 ±3,347
Brave Furries (0.79, Crazy Goat Games): 13,751 ±3,213
Space Impact Glitch (2.99, Enjoy Games): 12,965 ±3,119
64 (2.99, indienova, GrabTheGames): 11,786 ±2,974
Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul (39.99, VRWERX): 8,447 ±2,518
Pastelia Stories (9.99, Coconut Island Games): 8,250 ±2,488
Surfasaurus (0.99, Red Triangle Games): 7,465 ±2,367
City Siege: Faction Island (6.99, Ish Games): 7,072 ±2,304
IronWolf VR (19.99, Ionized Studios): 6,875 ±2,271
The Keep (14.99, CINEMAX, s.r.o.): 6,679 ±2,239
M.A.C.E. (5.99, EntwicklerX): 6,286 ±2,172
Hexaball (0.99, kedexa): 6,286 ±2,172
SnarfQuest Tales, Episode 1: The Beginning (4.99, Cellbloc Studios): 6,286 ±2,172
Shadows Peak (4.99, Andrii Vintsevych): 6,090 ±2,138
Pain Train 2 (6.99, VT Publishing): 5,893 ±2,103
Popap (0.99, aqwatron): 5,500 ±2,032
WARTILE (19.99, Playwood Project): 5,500 ±2,032
Flower Design (1.99, PanGuoJun): 5,107 ±1,958
Tacopocalypse (7.99, Cherry Pie Games): 4,911 ±1,920
MyWorld - Action RPG Maker (24.99, The Game Creators): 4,518 ±1,841
Nephise (1.99, Tonguç Bodur): 4,518 ±1,841
Real Heroes: Firefighter (9.99, Flying Tiger Entertainment,Inc. , Open-2): 4,322 ±1,801
Codex of Victory (14.99, 1C Company): 4,322 ±1,801
Overload (24.99, Revival Productions, LLC): 4,322 ±1,801
Moribund (9.99, Traptics): 4,322 ±1,801
Soul Saber 2 (9.99, Henteko Doujin): 4,322 ±1,801
Lifeline (3.99, Big Fish Games): 4,125 ±1,759
VoiceAttack (11.99, VoiceAttack.com): 4,125 ±1,759
Panzer Panic VR (9.99, HandyGames): 3,143 ±1,536
Dwarflings (3.99, Starwind Games): 3,143 ±1,536
CHAOS CODE -NEW SIGN OF CATASTROPHE- (19.99, Arc System Works): 3,143 ±1,536
Himiko (0.99, RyuVsCloud): 3,143 ±1,536
VR Sports (12.99, Degica): 3,143 ±1,536
Virtual Rides 3 - Funfair Simulator (24.99, 2tainment GmbH): 2,947 ±1,487
Macbat 64 (4.99, Siactro): 2,750 ±1,436
100ft Robot Golf (19.99, No Goblin): 2,750 ±1,436
Cosmic Express (9.99, Draknek): 2,618 ±1,707
Quizality (4.99, UV Games Ltd): 2,554 ±1,384
Galactic Fighters (2.99, StarworkGC): 2,554 ±1,384
Adventures of Abrix (4.99, EJRGames): 2,554 ±1,384
Ecchi Sketch: Draw Cute Girls Every Day! (9.99, NewWestGames): 2,357 ±1,330
The Last Patient (0.99, Alex Danilow): 2,357 ±1,330
The Tenth Line (9.99, Sungazer Software): 2,357 ±1,330
Like Clay (0.99, free08Games): 2,333 ±2,283
Arma: Cold War Assault Mac/Linux (4.99, Bohemia Interactive): 2,161 ±1,273
Typing with Jester (4.99, Michael Jendryssek): 2,161 ±1,273
Life of a Wizard (3.99, Hosted Games): 1,964 ±1,214
Death Squared (14.99, SMG Studio): 1,768 ±1,152
The Lost Heir 3: Demon War (5.99, Hosted Games): 1,768 ±1,152
Age of Rivals (9.99, Roboto Games): 1,768 ±1,152
Hover Skate VR (11.99, Hyper Light Studios): 1,749 ±1,977
Blue-Collar Astronaut (9.99, Mutated Software): 1,572 ±1,086
Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters Daybreak: Special Gigs (14.99, PQube Limited): 1,375 ±1,016
LEAVES - The Return (7.99, Daedalic Entertainment GmbH): 1,375 ±1,016
BUCK (9.99, Wave Interactive): 1,375 ±1,016
Life of a Mobster (3.99, Hosted Games): 1,375 ±1,016
Future Unfolding (19.99, Spaces of Play UG): 1,179 ±940
CTHON (4.99, Gravity Games): 1,179 ±940
Tales of Escape (4.99, OnSkull Games): 1,179 ±940
Waking the Glares - Chapters I and II (4.99, Wisefool Studio): 1,166 ±1,614
Lost in Nature (14.99, Moongate Digital): 1,166 ±1,614
Yozora Rhapsody (6.99, Yume Creations): 1,166 ±1,614
Warpaint (9.99, LADDER): 1,164 ±1,138
Red Barton and The Sky Pirates (6.99, Plug In Digital): 1,164 ±1,138
Lemuria: Lost in Space (11.99, EJRGames): 1,164 ±1,138
Super VR Trainer (17.99, David Erosa García): 1,164 ±1,138
Light Apprentice (9.99, Amazu Media): 873 ±985
Dimension Jump (9.99, Redpoint Games): 873 ±985
VRCURATOR (4.99, Lobaki): 873 ±985
Coffence (14.99, Sweet Bandits Studios): 873 ±985
Snowflake's Chance (6.99, CarlMorganArt): 873 ±985
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader (9.99, Interplay Entertainment Corp.): 786 ±768
War of Castle VR (15.99, lemonvr): 786 ±768
Phantom Halls (6.99, Incendium LTD): 786 ±768
Don't Drop the Bass (4.99, RadishBox): 786 ±768
Passengers: Awakening VR Experience (9.99, Sony Pictures Virtual Reality): 583 ±1,141
Space Station Loma: OPERATIONS (13.99, Spielmann Solutions GmbH): 583 ±1,141
Ascender (8.99, GameChanger Studio): 583 ±1,141
Queen's Tales: The Beast and the Nightingale Collector's Edition (12.99, Big Fish Games): 583 ±1,141
Violent killer VR (2.99, 威震天科&#25216: 583 ±1,141
Mister Mart (4.99, Studio217, LLC): 583 ±1,141
Atramentum VR (1.99, Craplabs): 583 ±1,141
Draw Rider 2 (1.99, 17Studio): 583 ±1,141
Clash of Vessels VR (3.99, Druid Technologies): 583 ±1,141
Frontier VR (4.99, Gaugepunk Games): 583 ±1,141
World Builder (9.99, Guruji VR, Inc): 582 ±804
Mystery Riddles (8.99, Anawiki Games): 582 ±804
You... and who else? (6.99, Aldorlea Games): 582 ±804
Galactic Core: The Lost Fleet (9.99, PortalStudiosVR@ gmail.com): 582 ±804
Viktor, a Steampunk Adventure (11.99, Studio spektar): 582 ±804
Star Hunter VR (6.99, LiangDeZhao): 582 ±804
Metal Assault (4.99, Newsight Games/bitBerg): 582 ±804
World Destroyers (6.99, HardHead Games): 582 ±804
Land Doctrine (4.99, Polygma Studio): 582 ±804
Eekeemoo - Splinters of the Dark Shard (4.99, Cogg Games Ltd): 582 ±804

In case anyone was wondering, no, Death Squared did not show a user score or Metacritic score on SteamSpy, but neither do the majority of the games released that week.

I think there are genuine problems developers face on Steam that they don't face elsewhere, but I also don't really know what the solution is, short of "release fewer games." That's a discussion that goes around every once in a while and even though people come up with pros and cons for that solution, I don't know how many people think it would actually be practical to do.

If that's true, then this is simply the reality of being on Steam. The Vita and 3DS did get their fair share of indies because they were much smaller marketplaces than Steam, and thus easier to get visibility; it sounds like the same is happening for the Switch. But I don't know if it's anything specific Nintendo is doing with that marketplace to encourage sales.

 

[Orniletter]

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.

Literally till the end of Switch's lifespan in one form or the other.

 

[nynt9]

If I saw this game on steam I wouldn't look twice, I have so many other options. Whereas on the switch eshop it's been in recent releases since launch and will probably stay there for a few weeks because there aren't any releases to push it down from the feed. And not a lot of other options for similar experiences. And it's a new platform so of course people want more games to play on their new system. So it makes sense that this game would stand out on switch and get forgotten on steam. It's not because steam is bad. It's because there's too many alternatives on steam making the platform more competitive.

 

[Colossal Moo]

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

The Switch Market isn't exactly empty. Right now, 82 titles have been released (http://www.nintendo.com/games/game-...h|now|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|release|des|-|-) and Nintendo has been doing a good job of releasing games. They have put out the following games:

- Splatoon 2
- Arms
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (port of a Wii U game)
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (people seem to really like this game)
- 1-2-Switch (probably either meh or mediocre)

This is really good for a console which launched 4 months ago. Here are some other games which might be good (I played them on other platforms):

- Minecraft (I liked this a lot. I played on the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One
- Snake Pass (I played on the Xbox One and really liked it. The controls are hard to learn)
- Human Resource Machine (Played on my iPad and I really liked it)
- ACA Neogeo Meta Slug 3 (Played Metal Slug 3 on the Xbox 360 and liked it).

 

[SmokedMeat]

The Switch Market isn't exactly empty. Right now, 82 titles have been released (http://www.nintendo.com/games/game-...bly couldn't name 25 Switch games if I tried.

 

[brunomartynhak]

I was aware of this game because I'm constantly looking for local MP games, specially 4+ local.

However, for party games I have noticed that competitive games work much better.

Anyway, I was just aware of this game because I was actively looking for local MP. It is really hard to get visibility on Steam.

 

[GhostTrick]

The Switch Market isn't exactly empty. Right now, 82 titles have been released (http://www.nintendo.com/games/game-...h|now|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|release|des|-|-) and Nintendo has been doing a good job of releasing games. They have put out the following games:

- Splatoon 2
- Arms
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (port of a Wii U game)
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (people seem to really like this game)
- 1-2-Switch (probably either meh or mediocre)

This is really good for a console which launched 4 months ago. Here are some other games which might be good (I played them on other platforms):

- Minecraft (I liked this a lot. I played on the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One
- Snake Pass (I played on the Xbox One and really liked it. The controls are hard to learn)
- Human Resource Machine (Played on my iPad and I really liked it)
- ACA Neogeo Meta Slug 3 (Played Metal Slug 3 on the Xbox 360 and liked it).

82 games is barely nothing though.

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

Game sells well on a system where people are starving for games versus a platform where quirky indie puzzle games are a dime a dozen. I for one am shocked.

Good for them though.

 

[Tacitus_]

The Switch Market isn't exactly empty. Right now, 82 titles have been released (http://www.nintendo.com/games/game-...h|now|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|release|des|-|-) and Nintendo has been doing a good job of releasing games. They have put out the following games:

Going by the above post, Steam had more releases that week than you say Switch has total.

Just to put that into perspective.

 

[phanphare]

Going by the above post, Steam had more releases that week than you say Switch has total.

Just to put that into perspective.

I mean, yeah. it's Steam. that's one of the biggest issues for that platform.

 

[Spirited]

82 games is barely nothing though.

82 games is still good for the amount of time it's been out.

 

[wrowa]

The Switch Market isn't exactly empty. Right now, 82 titles have been released (http://www.nintendo.com/games/game-...h|now|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|release|des|-|-) and Nintendo has been doing a good job of releasing games. They have put out the following games:

82 games in 20 weeks translates to an average of 4 new releases per week. That's a rather modest number and means that on average most releases will be visible right on the eShop's start page for several weeks before they disappear -- in terms of visbility that's actually pretty nice.

(It's also the reason I don't quite understand complaints that the eShop lacks visbility for games. Right now - with the market not being crowded - it offers even to small games a degree of visbility developers could only dream of on other platforms. Long term, Nintendo needs to add additional highlight categories to the eShop, but right now it's mostly fine).

 

[Tacitus_]

I mean, yeah. it's Steam. that's one of the biggest issues for that platform.

Personally I feel that a getting loads of games is a benefit, not a negative. But this is not the thread for that.

 

[GhostTrick]

82 games is still good for the amount of time it's been out.

82 games in that timespan is like 4 to 5 games a week.

 

[Koren]

Their best selling platform was PC/Steam

In term of numbers, it's the case, but in term of revenue, I wouldn't be surprised Steam wasn't 1st, if this graph is correct.

 

[LordKano]

82 games in that timespan is like 4 to 5 games a week.

That's more or less what it's getting on average.

 

[Night Angel]

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.

Curation... is that the current spin on the limited library? Not that devs just haven't bothered, but that Nintendo is being very strict on what games make it to the system?

In that case, it's the most "curated" library out there! Good thing Nintendo is saving us from all those 3rd party games!

 

[SmokedMeat]

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.

Vaccine.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

Good for them on Switch sales.

 

[Vanillalite]

Yeah, a game like this would find much more success on a platform where multiplayer is the easiest to set up.

This. Game is made for local MP. Everything is great when you do.

Solo it's a pass.

Not surprised at all.

 

[Mushroomer25]

It blows my mind that people try to sell local-multiplayer-only games on Steam.

It blows my mind people still think there's no demand for local multiplayer in 2017. Games like Towerfall, Overcooked, Samurai Gunn, Jackbox, and more have performed well on PC - showing that there's an audience for couch co-op/competitive games. Steam's lack of curation is failing quality titles.

 

[SmokedMeat]

82 games is still good for the amount of time it's been out.

Wait...it's 82 results, not 82 games. Zelda is counted three times and Puyo Puyo is counted twice. And damn I wasn't wrong about Neo Geo ports making up a big chunk of the library.

 

[SapientWolf]

Either the Switch people are thirsty, there are better games on steam, or steam is just clustered with a bunch games that drowns new releases.

D. All of the above

Death Squared also debuted at $20 on Steam. I liked the game after I played it at a convention, but I still waited for a sale.

 

[Koren]

D. All of the above

Death Squared also debuted at $20 on Steam. I liked the game after I played it at a convention, but I still waited for a sale.

I'd say "E. All of the above, and wait till it's -80%" I wouldn't be surprised that for all the games that aren't must-buys or are strongly online related, the reflex for customers on steam is to put a game in wishlist, and wait for a discount.

It's practically a given on Steam (and the game won't disappear anyway). It's far more hit and miss on other platforms.

 

[Terrell]

If the switch had as many games releasing as Steam, this feature would be just as useless though. I think valve does a lot wrong with a lot of things, but this is not one of them. It's not their job to make this one random game stand out, every bit of exposure has to come at the expense of something else's - there's simply a vast vast vast difference in the amount of things vying for it on the platforms, not just because Steam has a huge back catalog, but purely in terms of contemporary releases as well.

You'll find a lot of people disagree with you on this point you're making about Steam, in that they believe that making huge sums of money while offering nothing to improve the experience for users or developers is a very "fuck you, got mine" mentality from Valve. There is a middle ground between what Steam is doing now and being a hyper-curated experience that no one wants a part of. Apple is trying to find that solution now by purging abandonware from the App Store that didn't get updated to 64-bit code, to improve the quality of search results and streamline their OS in the process (though that slapdash approach has had very clear drawbacks to the user, as well) and re-designing the App Store.

The way to make the game more appealing to people is PROBABLY to A) advertise it.

I think they did that when they originally released the game on PS4 and Xbox One back in March. This isn't some unknown quantity of a game.

People saying Steam needs less crap: Sure, but it's reductive to pretend it's all crap

It's not, but all good games suffer from the platform not having curation and poor discoverability, not just this one. Besides, you were arguing reductively that this game suffers from being same-y to a lot of other titles on Steam and suffered from local co-op, despite having a single-player mode and this issue not being a problem with other successful local co-op only titles that found success on Steam, so.... reductive thought processes seem to be the order of the day.

if every indie developer target switch for their releases as well then the switch will lose its edge over other platforms as a smaller, better curated/more focused library and become the same thing both in visibility and sales- the death squareds would still disappear in the middle of several other switch puzzle games. unless you believe switch users will buy everything just because its on the platform, which is far from true.

As has been mentioned, the News function helps a great deal by highlighting weekly eShop releases, as well as offering channels to advertise other games you release to the audience who bought your last one.
As an example, the News section has a channel for news on Blaster Master Zero. I have no doubt that every person who bought that game/subscribed to the BMZ news channel is going to see a news post at the end of August that says "hey, you liked this game, try out Azure Striker Gunvolt Strike Pack, 2 games made also made by Inti Creates". That being an option will mean discoverability is going to be inherently higher than other such storefronts. And this is without discussing the ways that eShop could improve future discoverability in its own right, considering its barebones approach at the moment.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

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

Yeah it's ridiculous. People love to spell doom when an indie game doesn't sell well on Steam and blame it on whatever gripe they have with the Steam store.

Of course they ignore the dozens and dozens of indie games that have sold buttloads on Steam.

 

[Stumpokapow]

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.

Erm, if the store was tightly curated, this game wouldn't have got a release on the store.

 

[Caronte]

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

Pretty much. It happens with every console, launch titles tend to sell pretty well just because there isn't much more to choose from.

 

[Nirolak]

If you're a really low profile title, there is actually benefit to trying a platform that doesn't have much on it yet. That's been known for a long time.

Once the Switch has 200+ indie games in a year or so, that will start getting a lot less true, so smaller indie developers will probably want to hurry.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Some games just work better for a portable system. I cant explain why but it makes a difference for me how I play them.

 

[SmokedMeat]

As has been mentioned, the News function helps a great deal by highlighting weekly eShop releases, as well as offering channels to advertise other games you release to the audience who bought your last one.
As an example, the News section has a channel for news on Blaster Master Zero. I have no doubt that every person who bought that game/subscribed to the BMZ news channel is going to see a news post at the end of August that says "hey, you liked this game, try out Azure Striker Gunvolt Strike Pack, 2 games made also made by Inti Creates". That being an option will mean discoverability is going to be inherently higher than other such storefronts. And this is without discussing the ways that eShop could improve future discoverability in its own right, considering its barebones approach at the moment.

It's so much easier to cater to the couple games your platform receives every now and then versus a constant deluge of games. If Nintendo received a third of what Steam gets do you really think they're all going to be highlighted in some Switch news? They wouldn't.

I don't know what more you think Steam can possibly do but we already have...

- a dedicated section for new releases
- curator recommendations
- a section on what's trending with your friends
- community page for each game
- Ability to follow games
- recommendation for other games based on what you play

No other storefront comes close, and no other storefront has anywhere near the amount of games.

 

[Haly]

If you're a really low profile title, there is actually benefit to trying a platform that doesn't have much on it yet. That's been known for a long time.

Once the Switch has 200+ indie games in a year or so, that will start getting a lot less true, so smaller indie developers will probably want to hurry.

Right, it's just not sustainable in the long run. The main difference between Switch and Steam as platforms in this context is age.

 

[Stumpokapow]

To troll a little less. I check Steam every day for new games and look at all the new releases. Most days, I say "Not Interested" to most, sometimes all of the games that come out. I picked "Not Interested" on this game. First, it's a co-op puzzler and I don't really have any desire to do co-op games on PC unless my wife is interested, which she isn't. Second, it reminded me of Two Tribes' "Rush", a game I bought like 6 years ago and played maybe 40 minutes of, and Chu Chu Rocket, a game I own two copies of. It also reminded me a little of "ilomilo", a game I bought twice and almost finished once. Plus I'm in the middle of the latest game by the Hexcells guy. I checked the games it was similar to, and they're mostly a bunch of games I own but either haven't played or played a little bit of and gave up on. Also, the game is $15, and while I'm sure that's a fair price for the content and the hard work the devs put in, it makes no sense with my backlog. Finally, the aesthetics, while very clean, looked a little sterile to me.

Then I have a second line of defence, where even if I've totally missed what makes a game special, I wait for a website or a streamer or literally anyone to highlight it as something I should be checking out. The game page has preview testimonials, but I mean post-release. And the only time I've heard about it has been now. I went back to check and it looks like the post-release reviews were pretty good, but not enough to make me jump.

It's possible for a game to be really well made, a labour of love, and also not something that lands because it's in a crowded genre or the pitch isn't immediately clear or the timing wasn't right or whatever. This isn't just a "curation" thing -- i.e. people can't find it under all the detritus, it's also a supply glut thing. Of course, big kudos to the devs for making a game and glad that they managed to launch on a platform where the relative undersupply of content works in their favour. I don't see much way to solve this structurally, though, besides a lot fewer people making games and platforms deliberately breaking backwards compatibility to handicap the already great games that have come out.

 

[Instro]

Not shocking, I would think just about anything could do well on the Switch for the foreseeable future. Steam is crowded as hell, and certainly in this genre. It's hard to just toss stuff out there and hope for success, you often need a following already or something that really sticks out.

 

[Yukinari]

Their best selling platform was PC/Steam

Kinda sad the best console exclusive content is stuck on the platform with 5%.

 

[GhostTrick]

That's more or less what it's getting on average.

Which is not a lot.

Not shocking, I would think just about anything could do well on the Switch for the foreseeable future. Steam is crowded as hell, and certainly in this genre. It's hard to just toss stuff out there and hope for success, you often need a following already or something that really sticks out.

I think it has indeed more to do with the good games rather than the shovelwares.
This game didnt bomb because it's some sort of gem drowned under a lot of shitty games.

This game bombed because it's a 15 dollar release drowned under a lot of quality games that you can buy for 15 dollars or even cheaper.

Basically, these 15 dollars could get me a lot more of better games on Steam. Heck, even two during sales.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Really wish Nintendo was in a position to capitalize on this momentum by getting more Switches out there.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Their best selling platform was Nintendo.

Fixed.

Come on, awesome that they did well on PC but it's pretty obvious where their audience is.

 

[GhostTrick]

Fixed.

Come on, glad they did well on PC but it's pretty obvious where their audience is.

"Nintendo" platforms means nothing. It's 2 different SKU. Not because it's from the same 1st party that it means you can add these two SKUs.
They both had to be developped under different architectures and such.

Sure now if you mean sales by platform holders, right. But that's not how things work.

Also obvious where their audience is ? You mean on different platforms ? Because even if you count both Nintendo platforms, that factor for less than 50%.
That's less than half of their audience.

 

[KratosEnergyDrink]

Their best selling platform was PC/Steam

40% on 3DS/WiiU. But success depends on the price they got on the different platforms. Steam is usually a low price platform.