Steam saved our bacon - Introversion

By Robert Purchese Published 19 August, 2010

"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.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • chrisjm #1 2 years ago

    mmm bacon

  • Shinetop #2 2 years ago

    Indie developer makes broad, sweeping generalised statements that are great for headlines. What else is new?

  • Zapatero #3 2 years ago

    I bet the recent GSB sale netted Cliffski a few notes as well. Good on them I say!

  • TeaFiend #4 2 years ago

    I totally forgot Darwinia came out on 360. Maybe they should have done some actual marketing?

  • mingster #5 2 years ago

    No it's intersting actually.
    It shows you that you can earn more money developing a PC game and putting it on steam for a few dollars.
    Than going through loads of agravation and trying to sell it on LIVE.
    Jeff Minter said exactly the same saying that it wasn't worth developing for LIVE and that STEAM saved his bacon as well.

  • LazyDan #6 2 years ago

    I like their games, but they could possibly do with being a bit simpler, or at least more intuitive.

    I loved Defcon when I first played it, and I'm probably just stupid, but anytime I try and go back for a quick game I find I've entirely forgotten how to play it and can't be arsed re-learning. I don't get this with games like Command & Conquer, Galcon Fusion or Risk; so while I'm happy to accept I'm just a dumbass, it does make me wonder whether their games could do with being a bit more focused on being able to pick up and play from scratch.

    I'm inclined more towards this opinion because I get the exact same thing when I try to play Darwinia again these days after having played the original a million years ago. That's personally the reason I never bothered with the XBLA version - I can start playing World of Goo, Galcon Fusion or the XBLA version of Carcasonne without worrying about the rules as either it's immediately obvious, or the interface guides you through it without making you resort to a tutorial.

    I do feel sorry for them though, it's always heartbreaking to see a development house who are focused on gameplay underselling. I might pick up XBLA Darwinia later.

  • hahayou #7 2 years ago

    Darwinia is an rts, of course it did better on pc. And as for 'indie developers of note' how about Behemoth, the Castle Crashers guys.

  • bad09 #8 2 years ago

    Maybe it's like that Zeno Clash guy said previously indies just get more interest out of PC users.

    The Steam interface does give games more exposure as we are all OCD and browse between games. I know when on the consoles I was always more interested in the big retail games than (most) of the marketplace or PSN games and didn't tend to browse or buy as much on the more pricey consoles as much as I do now on Steam.

    As Valve has proven to the industry the Wonderful world of Steam sales help immensely to (and not just for the indies either), picked up the awesomely addictive Nation Red from Diezelpower last week myself for just £3.99.

    "Gabe is god"

    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGIsj46BnQU&feature=rel ated
    ]http://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=GGIsj46Bn...[/link]

    EDIT - Argh! How on earth do you do the links on the front page now??

    Edited by 1 at 19/08/10 @ 10:01

  • Tomo #9 2 years ago

    I don't think Darwinia+ failed on XBLA for any reason other than that it was an archaic game by the time it was released. The 1200 point price didn't help at all mind, considering the PC version was stupidly cheap in comparison.

    I do love the Introversion guys, but can't help but think their own ambition is going to be their downfall. Subversion has been in development for a while and by the sounds of things is going to be there for a long while to come. And, what with the devs chopping and changing their minds about features and graphics, it seems like it could be a complicated creation process. If it's their only output for the next few years, it's hard to see how they can keep it up, tbh :/

    I do hope it's amazing though.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #10 2 years ago

    I think it's Microsoft points that are to blame.

    I find myself being far more attracted to buying things out of Valve and Apple's downloadable game stores because they just charge me direct to my debit card, and don't force me to go through this awful two-stage purchase, spare points shit - not to mention the fact that you feel like you're being ripped off if you don't buy points cards from the likes of Tesco or Amazon cause they sell them cheaper than MS do, so you have to order a card, wait for them to post it, then kick off a download...

  • neems #11 2 years ago

    I'm with LazyDan here I think. I absolutely adored Defcon when it first came out, and played it religiously. Coming back to it after a long hiatus, it's very hard to pick it up again.

    Also, how long until Subversion comes out? I remember seeing a teaser trailer for it many moons ago, but it certainly doesn't seem like it will be any time soon judging from the article. Nevertheless, I will be there when it does finally release.

  • mingster #12 2 years ago

    I think the whole LIVE points system should be abandoned as well.
    Just direct charge your CC or paypal.

  • sneetch #13 2 years ago

    @Mentalist(air)
    I find myself being far more attracted to buying things out of Valve and Apple's downloadable game stores because they just charge me direct to my debit card, and don't force me to go through this awful two-stage purchase, spare points shit - not to mention the fact that you feel like you're being ripped off if you don't buy points cards from the likes of Tesco or Amazon cause they sell them cheaper than MS do, so you have to order a card, wait for them to post it, then kick off a download...

    Just so you know, I haven't tried them yet but one of the guys at work uses these people and is very happy with them. They email you the code moments after you buy it and their prices seem to be the same as Amazons.

    http://ch eapxboxlivecodes.com/cheap-micr...

  • Shinetop #14 2 years ago

    I think the whole LIVE points system should be abandoned as well.
    Just direct charge your CC or paypal.

    And pay a CC fee on every microtransaction. Great idea!

  • YoshiMcTaggis #15 2 years ago

    I only keep an eye on Introversion in case they repeat the brilliance of Uplink. Everything since then has been disappointing (Defcon came closest).

  • Eraysor #16 2 years ago

    Make Uplink 2, I'll buy ten copies

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #17 2 years ago

    MS are too expensive. I find myself waiting for Deal of the Weeks more now (I havent bought Limbo yet for example)

    MS arent flexible enough with pricing. Should be any number of price points and deals should be offered to everyone and on more games.

    MS should add the option to buy with real money and not points. By all means keep points for people who don't want to use a credit/debit card.

    MS should relax their certification process to make it easier for these smaller studios or make Indie Games more attractive to use (option to apply for achievements etc)

    In short...tight, theiving, controlling wankers...and I'm an MS fan!

  • CaptainKid #18 2 years ago

    @mingster.
    If that would happen you would have to pay Microsoft prices.
    And not order points from a third party and save half.

  • yoomazir #19 2 years ago

    They are right about Darwinia+ on xbla, I was looking foward to it but that 1200 price was a no-no for me.

  • el_pollo_diablo #20 2 years ago

    FYI Introversion, the moment your games appear for the mac on steam, I'm going to buy all of them.

    So jump to it! :)

  • Sonic_D #21 2 years ago

    The average game price on XBLA used to be 800, now it's 1200. Some games deserve this price (e.g. Trials HD), but most do not. I migth buy an 800 game on a whim, but 1200 I probably won't.

  • hiddenranbir #22 2 years ago

    Aren't Stardock indie developers of note? Or has indie lost its meaning of 'independant' ? Paradox were rather noteworthy before expanding their library to -also- be on steam. Nutty Introversions.

    But still, if Steam was their lifeline, good for them and well done Steam.
    Edited by 1 at 19/08/10 @ 15:00

  • metalangel #23 2 years ago

    @hiddenranbir: Introversion also call themselves 'the last of the bedroom coders', which I find a bit arrogant.

    I paid full price for Darwinia+ on XBLA before outraged idiots vote me down.

  • oceanclub #24 2 years ago

    "The response was "phenomenal", Morris told GamesIndustry.biz - resulting in a cool $250,000 for the (recently reduced to) four-man team.

    [...]

    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." "

    PC gaming still dead.

    P.




  • skuzzbag #25 2 years ago

    I'm still confused at why people whinge and moan about a game such as Darwinia, which is Hugh quality, costing 11 odd quid. We used to pay 8 to 15 quid in the 80's for far less quality.

    Get a fucking grip, you probably paid 30,000 for a car that lost 3000 as you drove it away.

  • SixFootHalfling #26 1 year ago

    I'm still confused at why people whinge and moan about a game such as Darwinia, which is Hugh quality, costing 11 odd quid. We used to pay 8 to 15 quid in the 80's for far less quality.

    Get a fucking grip, you probably paid 30,000 for a car that lost 3000 as you drove it away.

    Yeah but I sold the car for £20,000, I can't sell the game on at all,
    and neither did I buy the car from the most expensive place possible, knowing it was £15,000 elsewhere

  • jimr9999us #27 1 year ago

    Wow, 360 fanboi's spouting immature rubbish about topics they know nothing about.

    I would appreciate any further news about Steam's substantial impact on the indie scene be limited to the PC wire, so I don't have to wade through the console rubbish.

    Thanks in advance!

  • Gastrian #28 1 year ago

    There is a slight benefit to MS's points or fixed price system which can benefit smaller developers. It was broached in an article a couple of months ago about iPhone games and that there has been a downward spiral in sale costs due to undercutting which is causing some developers to sell at a loss (a price point whereby the volume required to be sold to break even is almost unacheivable) or they lose sales because their games are deemed to expensive. Yes there are some games of note which can sell at a higher price point but these are few and far between as well as being from larger companies that can recoup the cost.

    The fixed price point should in theory prevent an issue of one dev spending ages and a considerable amount of money on creating a game then having another company make a crappier cheaper version and sell it a lower price point to steal sales.

    While the pricing of the points may be a concern the major concern for Live is in its navigation and highlighting quality games that deserve your money.