Steam saved our bacon - Introversion
"If you're not on Steam, you're not an indie developer of note."
Introversion's Mark Morris has recalled how a Defcon sale on Steam kept the struggling developer from closing down.
The response was "phenomenal", Morris told GamesIndustry.biz - resulting in a cool $250,000 for the (recently reduced to) four-man team.
"For the first time in a long time we've got a cash flow that extends out for two years at our size, which is nice," said Morris. "We've got two projects on the go at the moment - Subversion, which we're talking a lot about at the moment. It's new IP, very interesting stuff, but still not fully worked out in terms of which way the game will go... even on a daily basis Chris [Delay] decides more about what the game is going to look like, but we're still not quite at the point where we can put together a production plan and say, 'It's coming out in two years.'"
"We've also been working with Sony on Defcon PSN - given our Darwinia+ experience, we're a little bit less [likely] to just jump in bed with Sony if we can't find someone to share the development risk there."
Introversion thought the XBLA release of Darwinia+ earlier this year - a console-tailored bundle of Multiwinia and Darwinia - would drag the one-time Independent Games Festival winner out of the rough. But sales were "poor", according to Morris, who blamed a high, Microsoft-set price of 1200 MSP. Yet even with a discount to 800 MSP the title struggled: "The needle moved," shared Morris, "but not much."
The conclusion, for Mark Morris, is that "if you're not on Steam, you're not an indie developer of note".
Eurogamer awarded Darwinia+ 8/10 - our review explains why.
The full and candid interview with Mark Morris can be found over on GamesIndustry.biz.