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Dev says game started selling 400% better on Steam after releasing torrent (Polygon)
- Thread starter Lashley
- Start date
Deleted member 44122
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Without actual numbers this means nothing.
Its a game with 13 reviews.
400% increased sales could mean 40 sales vs 10.
In the lands of steam for small indies, anything can result in 400% increased sales, since the baseline is so low.
Its a game with 13 reviews.
400% increased sales could mean 40 sales vs 10.
In the lands of steam for small indies, anything can result in 400% increased sales, since the baseline is so low.
I imagine that this will only work for very small and unknown indie games.
AAA devs (or in this case, publishers) don't need to release their games to torrent by themselves, the scenes will do that for them instead.
AAA devs (or in this case, publishers) don't need to release their games to torrent by themselves, the scenes will do that for them instead.
It's not wrong but incredibly misleading.
The game in question:
Went from like 1 player to 7 players.
The game in question:
Went from like 1 player to 7 players.
While this one incident doesn't really prove anything, I do believe the larger argument here should be that providing people with a free demo of your game can really help with sales. Many studios reported that their sales climbed AFTER they launched their game on gamepass. So I hope for a future where most games comes with a free demo.
EDIT: I know this is tangential to the thread. Just thought it would be a better discussion topic than "dev sells 30 more copies after launching own torrent".
EDIT: I know this is tangential to the thread. Just thought it would be a better discussion topic than "dev sells 30 more copies after launching own torrent".
This means nothing without numbers, especially when barely anyone bought it in the first place. That bump in sales could have just happened randomly rather than due to the torrent. Smart play for the developer though since it gets press attention by attributing it to the torrent at least.
With only around a dozen user reviews, we're talking about a game with total sales in the 3 or 4 digits.
I'll echo the comments that without some numbers this doesn't seem like something we can extrapolate anything from. Good way to get some marketing for your game though!
I doubt a free demo would have done anything for this game. It's a marketing tactic and now that it has an article written about it from a large site, it will see an even bigger boost.
Steam doesn't have that functionality built in for some absurd reason. It's been a feature in Bandcamp for years.
And in 2020 a dev pretended to rediscover shareware in a clever marketing tactic designed to coax people into talking about his or her game. Bravo.
I used to love the fact that on the Xbox 360, live arcade games were required to have a demo. I found so many gems that way. Games I would never have purchased otherwise.