One indie publisher reckons planning small and having realistic expectations is key to its success.
Speaking to GamesRadar+, director of publishing Simon Byron of Yogcast Games – the company behind Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers and the upcoming deck builder Kaya’s Prophecy – said the team are “almost too realistic in terms of our projections” when they “think about potentially working with a partner.”
“We typically forecast around 100,000 units, 120,000 units across a couple of years, and think about what that could look like, not just for us, but for the studio as well,” Byron continued. “And we’re very transparent in those scenarios. Now, I will admit, never have I forecast a game accurately, but you have to hang a figure off something.”
That being said, Byron also admitted he got things “spectacularly wrong” with PlateUp, the restaurant management game that had players running a franchise while engaging in some Overcooked-style top-down kitchen mayhem. “We based our decisions on that selling 100,000 copies over two years, it did 200,000 copies in the first month,” Byron said.
“And equally, we have games that underperform as well, and it’s those that affect me the most. But for us, it’s being confident that we can find an audience, we can grow a community that will result in those sales, which aren’t easy to achieve. But given how many people are playing games at the moment, how many people are on Steam at any one time, it should feel achievable for a publisher of our size.”