Why Great Games Fail

0:00 - A great game
1:50 - The expert
2:59 - What games work on Steam
4:21 - Where Season did well
6:01 - Why talk about Steam?
7:38 - Marketing doesn't mean success
8:20 - DATA
8:44 - A secret formula
9:32 - What games don't work
10:53 - What about Steam Deck?
12:11 - A buzzy game you might know
14:48 - Ways to make a game work
15:36 - What about cozy games?
17:16 - Sports games do bad on Steam
18:22 - Pokémon-likes, on the other hand...
19:38 - Something doesn't add up...
22:11 - This is like software design
23:24 - Twitter is not real life
24:25 - NBZ helps me
26:04 - What people read on a Steam page
28:01 - The false door test
At the end of January, a game released that changed how I think of games completely. Season A Letter to the Future had been building hype through multiple trailers during PlayStation events. Season, at its simplest, is a game about riding a bike, taking pictures, and recording audio. Call it wholesome or cozy, but Season fits nicely into this extremely popular niche of games whose goals are not to best an opponent or kill an enemy. In Season, Estelle's goal is simply to document her world and its culture before that culture comes to an end. Season's first trailer drew a lot of interest. It looked beautiful and contemplative and like a game I was going to devour. It was rather big news when word came out that the game's director and Scavenger Studios co-founder Simon Darvaux had harassed staff working on the game and had a toxic management style. It was a little quieter news when an investigation found that Scavenger Studios had dealt with Darveau's toxicity appropriately and that he would return to the studio in a more isolated role working on a different game. But perhaps the most shocking news came months after Season's release in June, when Scavenger Studios laid off half of their staff due to the game's extremely poor performance. After a strong indie game hype cycle and being featured in multiple PlayStation events, Season only sold around 60,000 copies across PS5 and Steam. The game underperformed what was expected in sales, and very likely, I think, underperformed what was necessary to make up the costs of development. When this news came out, I put a link to the gamesindustry.biz story in a Discord server that I frequent. The series of responses that I got from today's guest are what completely changed how I think about games, or at least how those games are marketed.
In this video, NBZ walks me through the ways that indie games are marketed and why some great games fail when others don't.
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[@AndrewConkling]

The “sure” head nod 😂 25:05

[@MattHorton]

That whole question makes me laugh but i had to quit watching that part while editing so i could finish it lol

[@AndrewConkling]

This was so interesting. Great chat!

[@MattHorton]

Thanks!

[@MattHorton]

Did you play Season?

[@Silellak]

Sadly, no. I was in the middle of something else - I don't even remember what - and it just fell right off my radar.

[@MattHorton]

Honestly I enjoyed it but it didn't hit me super hard. Still worth being more successful I think

[@fingerbelly]

Awesome video Matt, and great discussion gents!

[@MattHorton]

Appreciate it!

[@csidesummit]

Do you know how down I would be for a cute and cuddly 4X game?

[@MattHorton]

I mean same

[@SushiFloof]

This video goes hard, you deserve more recognition and attention, keep it up sir!

[@MattHorton]

Thank you! That's so kind! More on the way 😍

[@shami3966]

I played that for a day I should play it again..

[@MattHorton]

I enjoyed it. Not the best game of all time but good

[@goodwithastain]

these are some very fascinating insights!

[@MattHorton]

Right?!

[@prototypelq8574]

Very insightful and interesting discussion, thank you for doing the interview and discussing a very interesting topic! I would love to hear how demos impact the sales. From a user POV, the demos are great as you can more easily judge if you'll like the game and spend your money wisely. On another hand I can imagine this could affect an idie game sales significatly, as the players would just play the demo for 20-30 minutes, feel like they've had enough of the game and never come back to actually buy it... p.s. Pyre is a hidden gem and my fav Supergiant's game. It has the perfect blend of very personal storytelling, the plot is heavy on themes, gameplay is intricately woven into the story and vice virsa, and the OST is the most diverse soundtrack Darren Korb has written yet, ranging from upbeat metal to classical orchestral sound, back to uplifting chill tracks and into the eldrich horror chanting. Did I mention the main song of the game has Nine varietions in different styles and genres with different lyrics? No, no I haven't, I think I'll say that again. Main song has N i n e versions and you'll hear all of them during your playthrough. Plus the credits song remembers your big choices and will be personal for each playthrough too! Pyre is great, go play it

[@MattHorton]

I'm not sure! But I sure did play the demo of ffxvi and never play the rest. But we did buy it and my husband played it

[@visualninja]

This is a great vid. I love bringing the UX Design mindset into the gaming space

[@MattHorton]

Thanks!

[@Silellak]

This was awesome and insightful! Thanks to both of you.

[@MattHorton]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@bronsonbronson5313]

Fascinating stuff

[@MattHorton]

Thanks!

[@TheRealTimeline]

I think the reason games like Season fail is because they are not games. They are closer to a visual novels, and from the look of it, it seems to have a rather boring story.

[@MattHorton]

I am with you that they are more like an art film or a piece of literature, but calling them not games is reductive

[@Revamped73]

I hate the fact that IGN are rating walking sims a 10 out of 10

[@MattHorton]

Not every game needs to be an action game my guy