As far as I know we users cannot see how many sales a game has from steam, so I very much appreciate the creator telling us. I often try to judge from the number of reviews if a game has made at least a few thousand bucks. This game here has 19 reviews with 420 sales, which means that 4,5% of all people have reviewed the game, which is more than I expected (I expected a ratio of about 1%). But this means that probably other games that have only a few dozen reviews have sold comparably (poorly).
As an aside, me personally, I don't like early access games; I'd rather wait till the game is finished. I'm probably not the only one thinking like that. So I find it difficult to guess how different the sales projectory would be if it didn't have the "early access" status, but with any luck the creator will tell us once he has released V1.0 :)
When I wrote my book, they did an early access thing at it was terrible. I was still understanding where to take my book and iterate and I was getting people telling me it sucked. Uh ya, its not finished at all yet, just v1!
Not a fan. I mean I get Betas and access to things say a month or so before launch. But not during active development.
I forget where I read it, but you usually won’t be too far off the mark if you multiply review count by 100. This won’t tell you revenue of course, but it gives you an idea.
My game sold about 20k units on Steam and has 165 reviews, so there’s one anecdotal point of data.
These numbers are actually promising. 400 sales in early access for a 'niche' game would open the door for a few publishers out there. And as it stands this game has momentum behind it, NOT an easy thing to accomplish.
And further more, the steam page has quite a few problems that are easily fixed and would drives sales in a positive direction. Add some streamer outreach to the mix and this could do well enough to fund their next game. Just perhaps not well enough to satisfy the developers ambitions. Yet.
I would love to have this momentum on my own (very) niche game. Its is also on early access, interesting premise, zero marketing budget, and so on. Its numbers are nowhere near as promising as Yerba Mate Tycoon. Its a rare thing to click with an audience and YMT has done so.
To the Developer, keep going. Keep that mindset of honouring your customers its rare in games and of value to the gamers. Spend more time on you store page and promoting, and release it.
It will be worth it.
In this day and age having over 400 actually paying customers is a lot! Even having 400 free users would be a lot. Now the question is - do they play the game ? Any number above 1% is good, so if there are 4 players spending a lot of time - it's a good sign. If possible ask them what they think is good about it, then update the marketing material to showcase what is good about the game.
The game is far, far too much of a niche style game for it to even be all that popular, IMHO. I'm not quite sure what the Dev here expected to happen. It's also Early Access and it's fair to say that unless a game has broad appeal (which shop simulators don't) and hype (definitely not in this case), people tend to stay away from Early Access games from unknown developers with insubstantial catalogs. I know I do, been burned enough times.
I'm not saying 'feel bad', here... more along the lines of 'lower your expectations'. Unless you have a big publishing house backing you, marketing money being spent, your first title isn't going to be profitable... and that's before you consider the type of game it is.
Where do you get the idea that they had high expectations? The whole article is like "I knew this game wouldn't sell, but hey, at least it did better than my first ten games". This person is a grinder and may very possibly achieve moderate success or better if they keep it up. Their trajectory is def normal for successful indie game devs, anyway. You just never hear about the dozen plus games Soderstrom made/released before Hotline Miami or Thorson made/released before Celeste, etc. Because...well, because they failed
This article does serve as yet another good reminder though that platforms are where the money is and that making content is no way to make a living. Make your fuck you money first, THEN make content using the skills you developed along the way. You'll have something to make content about, too, having been out and about in the world to make your nut
He could yet get another bump in sales from a 1.0 release, but you're right the stars are just not aligned to make Yerba Mate Tycoon an indie smash. This was not necessarily a story of loss though. Taking a project all the way to release is a feat, and his attitude toward finishing the game, not to mention supporting it after release is commendable. All this seems like it helps position the developer to solicit publishers for future projects, convince others to work with him, and even help sway potential buyers of future projects. Not to mention it's a critical learning experience, feedback like yours is very helpful. All things considered pretty successful for a first game. This dude definitely has the potential to turn a profit in the future.
> Before the game launch, I knew that game will be a failure. I was expecting most sales from Latin America (low price), my all previous mobile games were a failure, wishlist number was low + in the first month of early access (outside of Steam) I sold 0 games copies. So, there were no success indicators. I got no problem with it, everything is running according to my plan, If my whole life is a failure, then a “failure” is something normal, it won’t affect me :-}
I'd say their expectations were pretty low, and despite that they've got a wonderfully positive attitude about the whole thing. Maybe don't be so quick to rain on that.
My all previous games (mobile + web+ were failure.
From the blog
"Before the game launch, I knew that game will be a failure. I was expecting most sales from Latin America (low price), my all previous mobile games were a failure, wishlist number was low + in the first month of early access (outside of Steam) I sold 0 games copies. So, there were no success indicators. I got no problem with it, everything is running according to my plan, If my whole life is a failure, then a “failure” is something normal, it won’t affect me :-}"
Annoyingly, the dev time travelled back and incorporated all that into their original article. I think they did it just to make your advice look pointless.
"In terms of cash, it was not worth it, if we count costs (without time) + taxes, then the “earnings” from those $632 will be lower than 0. I had lost the cash, the first month is mostly the “best” month of sales, so my next month’s sales will be worse and worse, maybe a few % of my first month. Someone might be curious why I’m still keeping early access, working on the game, to be honest, I don’t believe in some magic “boom” and millions of players, I’m just fixing bugs, adding new things because… People have paid for the game :-} I could drop it because Yerba Mate Tycoon generated cash loss (working more on it, generate bigger losses). But people paid for it, it got some players, so I will work on it :-} I know that some developers drop in that situations game, it’s a logical step from a business side, but it’s against my work ethic. I never promised huge things, but I have to finish what I started."
This type of niche game might actually be the exception where long-term sales are more than the initial sales. I would rather own this game than yet another clone of some overdone theme with similar sales up to this point.
Some reasons:
* If anyone were to search for such a game, this will be the top result by default, so there might be a trickle of sales over time that just doesn't stop.
* This game may trend on some relevant subreddit/twitter clique/forum and get later sales boosts from that.
* If you have a Yerba Mate blog or podcast, this is basically the only game you can even feature if you wanted to talk about something new.
My next step would be to make a spreadsheet of anything Yerba Mate -related that could possibly feature the game and contact them all.
I don’t think the problem is that the game is a niche game, there are ways to break even with niche games and just copying what everyone else is doing is not exactly a receipt for success.
In my opinion these is what OP could have done differently:
- The game lacks (an obvious) unique hook. Just replacing coffee with mate is not enough of a hook for me, and I was raised in a family that drinks Chimarrão.
- $5 is too cheap for a niche game.
I think would help a lot if you check the Jeff Vogel advices on creating and marketing niche games. He has a lot insight on creating games that only a tiny amount of people want
The market is far too crowded to rely entirely on the steam store for your exposure.
I'd like to know what the numbers are like for indie devs with their own twitch channel who constantly stream the development process, establishing a fan base throughout the year(s) of development before releasing on steam.
Not sure if it has been mentioned yet, but I think the main reason why this title failed is the title. Most people probably never heard of "yerba mate", so to them, the title sounds like some kind of weird mating simulator.
I believe pricing is one of the most important decisions any business can make, and $5 does not make any sense to me.
You're probably betting that this is a niche game that likely will take you more time than its worth in sales: in that case, you need to increase the price as much as you can without it looking absurd in comparison to triple A titles, so maybe $30 or so.
If not much happens, you accept that there is no way any meaningful number of people will be interested in this game for the price of a steak dinner, so you go for the "penny crowd" instead: sell the game for $1 during a steam sale and get free attention from a >95% discount.
Ideally you can spend this in-between time fixing some bugs and just keeping the game "alive" so it doesn't look like a complete cash grab, but on the other hand you should never feel obligated to put your time into something that isn't, and likely never will, be paying you back.
Congratulations on commercializing the game. Are you a one person operation? I know how hard can it be to develop, publish, deal with game stores... This is a great deal that you were able to launch and sell. Kudos
Congrats! You are doing fantastic. Thousands of debbie downers here, pay absolutely no attention to them. Keep doing what you like, strengthen yourself physically and mentally and if you need to have a second job while you get your first break-away success so be it.
Just a small correction, "Yerba mate" is not the "coffee of south-america" Coffee is the coffee of south america,i.e. by far is a more popular drink. Mate is huge in Argentina/Uruguay and perhaps Paraguay , only regionally in Brazil and very niche everywhere else in the region. Coffee is as popular as it can be everywhere else in the world where the drink is liked.
Why do you want to make an iOS/Android version when the game isn't very popular right now? You mention the competition will be a lot higher so why do you think it will be worth it?
Coincidentally, just three months ago I began drinking yerba mate[0] which is the tea or infusion in this game Yerba Mate Tycoon. I found it better than coffee in the afternoon, since it provides a slower onset and more sustained energizing effect with essentially no crash. I believe it’s due to it containing other compounds such as L-theanine apart from caffeine. Popular brands are Taragüi[1] and Canarias, and can be prepared in a standard French press almost like tea. Some even drink it in teabags[2].
It's also easy to burn bridges by canceling early access games. The vast majority of people should stay away from early access games by default because of the risk that the game remains unfinished.
I threw $5 your way because I wanted to support you. That said, some feedback:
1. The price is too high. I'm sorry, I know this sounds cheap at $5. But you're competing with the entire world of iOS games. For free, I can get endless kinds of games like this, but with in game purchases. Some of those, like Cardinal Quest 2, are actually amazing and the ingame purchases don't get in the way at all.
I think if you priced it at $2 you might get more revenue in the long run.
2. I don't know what the hell a Yerba Mate is. It does say in the description that it's some kind of coffee, but I honestly had to force myself to buy this. I'd rather buy a coffee than a game about coffee.
I feel guilty saying these things, because I don't know if my feelings here are representative or not. Maybe a lot of people feel that $5 is the right price point and that a game about coffee management is compelling. Either way, I want to support gamedevs, so I might try playing this just for kicks.
> But you're competing with the entire world of iOS games.
I am not convinced these are overlapping markets. The Venn diagram probably looks pretty close to two independent circles. I play games on Steam and also own an iPhone. I never play anything on my phone, because it's a completely different experience. I think PC games and iOS games are both games in the same way as PC games and hide&seek are both games. That is to say we use the same term for them, but they're not at all the same in regards to what I'm looking for.
It's not just me either. This line of separation exists in my whole social circle as far as I can tell. None of my PC gaming buddies play mobile games and everyone I know that plays mobile games don't play PC games.
My game is PC game, when I will release on IOS/Android the price will be lower on that markets.
On PC $5 is good price, not too low (like $1 or $2), not too high like $20-$30. Feedback from players mostly say, that the game price should be higher.
Drive day 1 sales, increasing your chance of getting featured as a "hot new release", increasing visibility and trying to ride the recommendation algorithm.
Sadly Steam encourages everyone to do this - if you don't get high enough in the rankings at launch you basically won't make any money, plus everyone on Steam is super accustomed to getting everything at a discount.
I fell bad for all the awesome indie devs out there now that the market is saturated. I remember the early days of Steam and Android when low quality asset flips would make $10k easily.
New niches appear every year though, like the VR market that's desperate for content.
[+] [-] Tarsul|4 years ago|reply
As an aside, me personally, I don't like early access games; I'd rather wait till the game is finished. I'm probably not the only one thinking like that. So I find it difficult to guess how different the sales projectory would be if it didn't have the "early access" status, but with any luck the creator will tell us once he has released V1.0 :)
[+] [-] jonshariat|4 years ago|reply
Not a fan. I mean I get Betas and access to things say a month or so before launch. But not during active development.
[+] [-] chills|4 years ago|reply
[1]: https://steamdb.info/app/1404560/graphs/
[+] [-] hesdeadjim|4 years ago|reply
My game sold about 20k units on Steam and has 165 reviews, so there’s one anecdotal point of data.
[+] [-] DrJokepu|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DaveSapien|4 years ago|reply
And further more, the steam page has quite a few problems that are easily fixed and would drives sales in a positive direction. Add some streamer outreach to the mix and this could do well enough to fund their next game. Just perhaps not well enough to satisfy the developers ambitions. Yet.
I would love to have this momentum on my own (very) niche game. Its is also on early access, interesting premise, zero marketing budget, and so on. Its numbers are nowhere near as promising as Yerba Mate Tycoon. Its a rare thing to click with an audience and YMT has done so.
To the Developer, keep going. Keep that mindset of honouring your customers its rare in games and of value to the gamers. Spend more time on you store page and promoting, and release it. It will be worth it.
[+] [-] z3t4|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] georgeecollins|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] donislawdev|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deepfriedbits|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] techrat|4 years ago|reply
I'm not saying 'feel bad', here... more along the lines of 'lower your expectations'. Unless you have a big publishing house backing you, marketing money being spent, your first title isn't going to be profitable... and that's before you consider the type of game it is.
[+] [-] wly_cdgr|4 years ago|reply
This article does serve as yet another good reminder though that platforms are where the money is and that making content is no way to make a living. Make your fuck you money first, THEN make content using the skills you developed along the way. You'll have something to make content about, too, having been out and about in the world to make your nut
[+] [-] ManBlanket|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brundolf|4 years ago|reply
I'd say their expectations were pretty low, and despite that they've got a wonderfully positive attitude about the whole thing. Maybe don't be so quick to rain on that.
[+] [-] donislawdev|4 years ago|reply
From the blog
"Before the game launch, I knew that game will be a failure. I was expecting most sales from Latin America (low price), my all previous mobile games were a failure, wishlist number was low + in the first month of early access (outside of Steam) I sold 0 games copies. So, there were no success indicators. I got no problem with it, everything is running according to my plan, If my whole life is a failure, then a “failure” is something normal, it won’t affect me :-}"
[+] [-] robertlagrant|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] evo_9|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jay_kyburz|4 years ago|reply
Also, the video is funny, but it really doesn't tell us anything about what you do. It doesn't show us the consequences of any of your decisions.
Anyhow, I wish the developer all the best. I hope sales to pick up and that they enjoyed making the game.
[+] [-] bemmu|4 years ago|reply
Some reasons:
* If anyone were to search for such a game, this will be the top result by default, so there might be a trickle of sales over time that just doesn't stop.
* This game may trend on some relevant subreddit/twitter clique/forum and get later sales boosts from that.
* If you have a Yerba Mate blog or podcast, this is basically the only game you can even feature if you wanted to talk about something new.
My next step would be to make a spreadsheet of anything Yerba Mate -related that could possibly feature the game and contact them all.
[+] [-] gcampos|4 years ago|reply
In my opinion these is what OP could have done differently:
- The game lacks (an obvious) unique hook. Just replacing coffee with mate is not enough of a hook for me, and I was raised in a family that drinks Chimarrão.
- $5 is too cheap for a niche game.
I think would help a lot if you check the Jeff Vogel advices on creating and marketing niche games. He has a lot insight on creating games that only a tiny amount of people want
[+] [-] pengaru|4 years ago|reply
I'd like to know what the numbers are like for indie devs with their own twitch channel who constantly stream the development process, establishing a fan base throughout the year(s) of development before releasing on steam.
[+] [-] minimize|4 years ago|reply
You can verify this by comparing the sales by country to the number of searches for the term "yerba mate" by country: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=yerba%20mate The distributions are very similar.
[+] [-] fouc|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] donislawdev|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AussieWog93|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hnarn|4 years ago|reply
You're probably betting that this is a niche game that likely will take you more time than its worth in sales: in that case, you need to increase the price as much as you can without it looking absurd in comparison to triple A titles, so maybe $30 or so.
If not much happens, you accept that there is no way any meaningful number of people will be interested in this game for the price of a steak dinner, so you go for the "penny crowd" instead: sell the game for $1 during a steam sale and get free attention from a >95% discount.
Ideally you can spend this in-between time fixing some bugs and just keeping the game "alive" so it doesn't look like a complete cash grab, but on the other hand you should never feel obligated to put your time into something that isn't, and likely never will, be paying you back.
[+] [-] user5994461|4 years ago|reply
But definitely not in early access and definitely not until it reaches similar quality/content.
If one tries to make a money grab as you suggest, gamers will obliterate the game with bad reviews. A few bad reviews and the game is doomed forever.
[+] [-] atum47|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] donislawdev|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Ostrogodsky|4 years ago|reply
Just a small correction, "Yerba mate" is not the "coffee of south-america" Coffee is the coffee of south america,i.e. by far is a more popular drink. Mate is huge in Argentina/Uruguay and perhaps Paraguay , only regionally in Brazil and very niche everywhere else in the region. Coffee is as popular as it can be everywhere else in the world where the drink is liked.
[+] [-] raverbashing|4 years ago|reply
Yerba matte is also popular in Germany (as in, "Club-Mate") so maybe OP can try some advertising there ;)
[+] [-] flaque|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] willcipriano|4 years ago|reply
> New update = new bugs
> Poor graphic and sounds
I have to say the first two "features" aren't doing you any favors.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1404560/Yerba_Mate_Tycoon...
[+] [-] cinntaile|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kimopertonau|4 years ago|reply
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(drink)
[1] https://pampadirect.com/taragui-yerba-mate-classic-flavor-co...
[2] https://pampadirect.com/taragui-mate-cocido-ready-to-brew-ye...
[+] [-] hsbauauvhabzb|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] imtringued|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] donislawdev|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sillysaurusx|4 years ago|reply
1. The price is too high. I'm sorry, I know this sounds cheap at $5. But you're competing with the entire world of iOS games. For free, I can get endless kinds of games like this, but with in game purchases. Some of those, like Cardinal Quest 2, are actually amazing and the ingame purchases don't get in the way at all.
I think if you priced it at $2 you might get more revenue in the long run.
2. I don't know what the hell a Yerba Mate is. It does say in the description that it's some kind of coffee, but I honestly had to force myself to buy this. I'd rather buy a coffee than a game about coffee.
I feel guilty saying these things, because I don't know if my feelings here are representative or not. Maybe a lot of people feel that $5 is the right price point and that a game about coffee management is compelling. Either way, I want to support gamedevs, so I might try playing this just for kicks.
[+] [-] Strom|4 years ago|reply
I am not convinced these are overlapping markets. The Venn diagram probably looks pretty close to two independent circles. I play games on Steam and also own an iPhone. I never play anything on my phone, because it's a completely different experience. I think PC games and iOS games are both games in the same way as PC games and hide&seek are both games. That is to say we use the same term for them, but they're not at all the same in regards to what I'm looking for.
It's not just me either. This line of separation exists in my whole social circle as far as I can tell. None of my PC gaming buddies play mobile games and everyone I know that plays mobile games don't play PC games.
[+] [-] donislawdev|4 years ago|reply
On PC $5 is good price, not too low (like $1 or $2), not too high like $20-$30. Feedback from players mostly say, that the game price should be higher.
[+] [-] bogwog|4 years ago|reply
Why would you launch with a discount?
[+] [-] jmd42|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WhiteNoiz3|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] donislawdev|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] avereveard|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] arnaudsm|4 years ago|reply
New niches appear every year though, like the VR market that's desperate for content.