Interesting thoughts about how to define success for video games in today’s market, particularly for those using early access. Lots of respect for Hooded Horse’s CEO, Tim Bender, he says all the right things and seems genuine.
He describes van Lierop’s post as “exactly the kind of distorted endless growth/burden of expectations/line must go up perspective that causes so much trouble in the games industry”. He’s also unconcerned by Manor Lords falling behind its initial vast popularity, poking fun at “the apparently dark reality that some people, after enjoying their purchase of a premium, single-player title, might decide to go on and play another game (The horror! The horror!).”
Headline is a little melodramatic though.
Manor Lords was the top-seller on Steam for a couple days if not a full week, so Hooded Horse definitely has enough money for a good while.
2,250,000 * $30 = $67,500,000
I think they’ll be good for a while.
*70% - don’t forget Steam’s cut! There’s basically nothing left after that.
/s just in case not obvious
I believe Steam’s predatory cut is very important to the discussion and not a light matter at all, although that’s a discussion for a different thread.
Those should still a good amount of earnings, even if we aren’t aware of how much it goes to HH and how much to Styczeń, so they do have good reason to take it easy.
Not to go down a rabbit hole that’s off topic, but I’m generally not offended by Steam’s cut. The platform, advertising, centralizing, hosting, and cloud saves, etc etc, seem like a major benefit, especially for smaller developers, that would allow them to get to market faster, and with a much larger audience.
Which also drops from 30% to 25% after $10M and to 20% after $50M, giving a grand total of:
$10,000,000*0.70+ $40,000,000*0.75+ $17,500,000*0.80= $51,000,000Not including taxes and fees