News Indie developers show the AAA market what it takes to become huge hits

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Pop quiz: How does a small, Early Access survival crafting game made by five people in Sweden comfortably eclipse the success of a million dollar, multi-studio project built around one of the biggest properties in entertainment? It's not a trick question, and certainly not a hypothetical one either. At the time of writing, Valheim has sold over five million copies since quietly launching on PC last month, placing it as the fourth most played Steam game of all time. Meanwhile, Marvel's Avengers, which released last year, was cited as a key factor in publisher Square Enix's $63 million loss in 2020, despite launching across multiple platforms amidst a hulk-sized marketing campaign.

You can find similar comparison points throughout the last year of video games, in which smaller independent titles find stratospheric success while bigger blockbusters flounder in the market. While plenty of indie games have struck gold in the past, it's rare to see a high frequency of smaller hits making waves across such a short period of time, suggesting we've entered a new era of zeitgeist games.
But is there a link between smaller titles like Valheim and Fall Guys enjoying such wide appeal in recency? Törnqvist suggests the obvious, admitting that "it doesn't hurt that COVID-19 is making people hang around at home, needing entertainment", while Walsh is inclined to agree: "Particularly with the pandemic, Fall Guys offers something a bit sillier in tone and is eminently social. The stakes are lower, the physics and obstacles are ripe for shareable, hilarious moments."

The lower barrier to entry for these titles also enables wider access, making it easier and more tempting for friends and family to bring each other in and play together. Compare that to a game like Marvel's Avengers, which requires a £60/$70 investment upfront, and you can understand why such titles aren't as conducive to equally rapid and widespread onboarding.

Still, to suggest that Valheim and Fall Guys' success lies entirely at the foot of COVID-19 and an affordable price point would be to diminish their inherent qualities in and of themselves; both are exceptionally well crafted games that tap into many of the things we love about the medium. Was it also a case of releasing at the right place at the right time, and with the right price tag? Perhaps, but these games also understand their audience better than most, as evidenced by their creators' continued drive to engage with their communities, learn from their mistakes, and treat their unexpected success as merely the starting line. It's the kind of working ethos that bigger publishers would do well to learn from.

 

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