Where's the press coverage?

[medea_fleecestealer]

A lot of bigname ARPG streamers already know of and have streamed GD, and are likely planning to stream FG when it releases. Pohx, Quin69, CuteDog, etc., and that’s just for English-speakers. GD has seen a few ten-thousand-viewer streams from France and Russia too, all without Crate handing out any money.

This. There’ll be plenty of streamers well known and not so well known streaming the game once FG drops.

[Paavo]

its because its not a multiplayer game

if it was and had a persistent server, it would be in the conversation

This along with ladders/seasons is it. People love competition. The most popular games being steamed are competitive. GD has zero competitive aspects.

[medea_fleecestealer]

This along with ladders/seasons is it. People love competition. The most popular games being steamed are competitive. GD has zero competitive aspects.

And many of us actually like that believe it or not. I have zero interest in multiplayer, ladders, seasons, etc. I don’t play games to compete, I play them to enjoy them at my own pace, in my own way.

[Glimpse]

And many of us actually like that believe it or not. I have zero interest in multiplayer, ladders, seasons, etc. I don’t play games to compete, I play them to enjoy them at my own pace, in my own way.

Quoted for the truth!

[Typheous]

And many of us actually like that believe it or not. I have zero interest in multiplayer, ladders, seasons, etc. I don’t play games to compete, I play them to enjoy them at my own pace, in my own way.

It would depend on how it was done for me. Competition just regarding PvE is silly, since time is the main factor. I like the D3/PoE season stuff only for the events, flat resets for the sake of it seem pointless.

[Paavo]

And many of us actually like that believe it or not. I have zero interest in multiplayer, ladders, seasons, etc. I don’t play games to compete, I play them to enjoy them at my own pace, in my own way.

I understand that and often times I’m in the same camp, but I also understand that is not very conducive to increasing the popularity of a game. I can’t even imagine how poorly this game would have done without it’s relationship to Titan Quest.

[mamba]

And many of us actually like that believe it or not. I have zero interest in multiplayer, ladders, seasons, etc. I don’t play games to compete, I play them to enjoy them at my own pace, in my own way.

same, I am not interested in MP at all, competitive or otherwise

I understand that and often times I’m in the same camp, but I also understand that is not very conducive to increasing the popularity of a game. I can’t even imagine how poorly this game would have done without it’s relationship to Titan Quest.

I doubt it makes any difference, the Kickstarter had 12,500 backers, the game sold about 1.5M copies. It might have been important for getting the funding, but not much beyond that. I doubt most buyers even know of it.

[Greyhaven]

And many of us actually like that believe it or not. I have zero interest in multiplayer, ladders, seasons, etc. I don’t play games to compete, I play them to enjoy them at my own pace, in my own way.

Agreed. Joining the quote train in a show of solidarity.

I have an awesome tabletop game library when I want to socialize while gaming. If I’m on my computer, that’s my time. I even disable SteamChat and such when I’m playing, as I tend to prefer immersion and escapism when I get into a game. Seems weird by today’s standards to use video games to “disconnect”, but that’s me. Glad to see dedicated single-player games still get as much love as GD and crew. Good times.

[medea_fleecestealer]

I’m not against the game having better multiplayer, but I don’t want it to be multiplayer and/or online only. If it’s possible give us both single player and multiplayer with all those features multiplayers enjoy.

[Paavo]

I doubt it makes any difference, the Kickstarter had 12,500 backers, the game sold about 1.5M copies. It might have been important for getting the funding, but not much beyond that. I doubt most buyers even know of it.

I’d bet the difference you guys made just during production of the GD is pretty significant to the overall quality of the game and thus the final sales. Don’t discount yourselves!

[powbam]

I’d bet the difference you guys made just during production of the GD is pretty significant to the overall quality of the game and thus the final sales. Don’t discount yourselves!

Well those 12+ thousand backers were likely mostly TQ fans and they raised over 500 thousand dollars. I believe I read a post by medierra that said that most that money was gone (probably by hiring all the extra devs) by the time the game went on to Steam Early Access just over a year later. Steam EA is what funded the rest of the games development. The KS tho gave them at least enough security to get to Steam EA and enough devs to get the ball rolling.

[Natt]

Btw, GD was featured in one of the Riot’s videos about game development

[mamba]

I’d bet the difference you guys made just during production of the GD is pretty significant to the overall quality of the game and thus the final sales. Don’t discount yourselves!

agreed, it probably made a difference with the KS and by extension the whole game getting as large as it got rather that essentially one act and three masteries which Crate might have been able to do without the KS.

As a consequence they also manged to get more buyers than they otherwise would have. Those buyers however probably mostly bought the game for what it is, not for having some relationship with TQ which the buyers still have fond memories of. So imo the success / sales of GD are because of GD, not because of TQ nostalgia as Paavo suggested. That was my main point.

[Gumshoe]

Why not both?

[Annaroth]

And many of us actually like that believe it or not. I have zero interest in multiplayer, ladders, seasons, etc. I don’t play games to compete, I play them to enjoy them at my own pace, in my own way.

Either do I, but having a well functioning multiplayer dont force you into any competition at all. Im fact, playing game with other people always brings more attractions than playing solo. Personally I love playing as a team where every member has his own role to fill, therefore challenging greater treats become possible

Notice it doesnt make single player worst, mp is diffrent and also can be fun, without forcing any kind of ladders. Anyway why would we even have a ladder system here? Just becouse all other games do? Naa…

What Id love to see im terms of multiplayer is a well functioning lobby, with specific channels.

Yea, GD getting streamed with FG release is one thing, but id take idea of releasing demo very seriously. Giving the opportunity to play the game right after stream would ensure positiv impact after stream ends.

[ChthonicSonic]

Speaking of coverage.
Recently, Techvania put up an excellent GD review on YouTube.
I found another one, with additional gameplay and a little more in-depth, but still reasonably compact:

You Should Play Grim Dawn! [Review]

Agreed. You should…

What do you guys think?

[Djuntas]

Part of it is, we don’t have a PR person constantly working to get us press mentions / articles. We pretty frequently will just release stuff, without bothering to contact press sites and announce what’s coming. People have called us “lazy devs” before and in the case of PR, it may actually be true.

I also stopped doing paid advertising on press sites because the results, in terms of traffic generated per dollar spent was incredibly poor vs. running ads in Facebook… or even just doing nothing. Getting featured on Steam generates over 9000x more sales than paying for advertisement on a gaming site. When I stopped buying advertisements, some sites that I won’t mention (cough, cough, RPS) stopped covering Grim Dawn or their coverage became pretty minimal.

The reality though, is there are so many gaming sites now, plus streamers, bloggers, etc, that no one source of media is very important and I’m not sure it’s worth my effort to chase coverage or pay for advertising. In the age of digital media, where games remain on “shelves” forever, to some degree, advertising is just expediting some of the sales you’d get over time anyway.

Look how many indie games the press couldn’t stop gushing over that released to modest or poor sales. Meanwhile, with relatively sparse coverage, we’re doing better than I would have ever hoped was possible when we started out.

On the other hand, we did get some decent press very early on, before and around the time of the Kickstarter, that helped us get the ball rolling. Grim Dawn has been around for a long time…

I guess also my personal ideal is that I’d rather put effort into making stuff to generate profit than spending time tinkering with marketing and other BS to “maximize returns”. Might be “bad business” to finance bros but we’re doing well enough so far that I just don’t have the fucks to chase more profits that way. Would rather invest my time in the next project. shug…

SO MUCH INSIGHT in the gaming industry in 1 comment 10/10

[Ragnar]

D3 is talked about because its blizzard game so most people know about it, while POE is the biggest and most popular arpg today (just a month ago they broke new record with most concurrent players at one time of around 150 000 players, or was it 180 000 not sure now).