Thanks for the congrats! Honestly this is a really disappointing launch so far, even though we got up to #29 on the top steam sellers list so far (right now are back down to #41, but we fluctuate). It's at somewhere around 50% as good as Skyward's launch was, which is inexplicable to me. And honestly I was really hoping this would do much better than Skyward, as it really seems like it should. And that would give us more breathing room financially.
Right now I think this is maybe our 4th best launch? Something like that? Behind AI War, Skyward, and Valley 1. Honestly I was hoping for something more like Valley 1, which is by far our best launch. It wasn't like I was shooting for the moon in expectations, but I didn't think that hoping for a repeat of Valley 1's success level on launch was too unrealistic; this game is a much more exciting and mass-appealing one, I think. And the praise from players and youtubers and early reviewers has been really solid.
So I'm not sure what is up, really. Hopefully things pick up over the week, but if they do that will be a first in our experience. If not, we may wind up struggling all winter long, and possibly shedding some staff early next year. Which really sucks, this game is so good. Sometimes I just don't understand how this industry works; I feel like this is Arcen's best work ever, with the possible exception of AI War.
Any help folks can do to spread the word is extremely welcome. AI War and Valley 1 had the power of word of mouth behind them, and Valley 1 was also featured pretty prominently on the front page of Steam for a time (so was Skyward). Bionic has no Steam featuring at all so far, and lower word of mouth though much higher youtuber showings. Given the lack of Steam featuring, the fact that this is at #4 on our list of launches is actually really impressive if you think about it. But still, I worry if we don't get traction out of the gate, if we will be able to pick up the needed traction over time. There's no reason that should not be possible, but except for AI War to some extent, we've never seen it (and that was a different era).
So... yeah. This has been a pretty crushing day for me. There's every chance this will turn around soon, as some major players in the press are telling us they will have stuff out super soon and they seem excited about the game. But word of mouth has always trumped the press in our experience, to a super surprising degree. And featuring on steam trumps everything. I'm still hoping they will feature us, fingers crossed, as that would solve a lot of this, possibly all of this, right there. And maybe the press will come through and save the day; god knows Erik has been busting his butt, and the press seems to really like it. But... every bit helps, and any word-spreading you can do is appreciated. I really hate having to ask for that sort of thing, but once again I find myself in that position.
Thanks for listening, I hate to rant on what should be such a happy day.
