“Spirittea” Game Earns US$1 Million Within a Week of Release, Despite Lackluster Performance on Steam
The pixel-style simulation game “Spirittea”, developed by the overseas game team Cheesemaster Games, was released in mid-November and has already made a significant impact in the gaming industry. Despite receiving little attention on the Steam platform, the game has managed to generate US$1 million in revenue within the first week of its release.
The game, which is a business simulation game where players build a hot spring bathhouse for monsters, has been influenced by “The Hidden Girl” and “Natsume’s Book of Friends”. Although “Spirittea” received a lot of media attention before its release, it was not promoted as a popular new game on Steam. Despite this, the game has been highly praised by players, with some criticism regarding the lack of guidance.
According to Mike Rose, manager of publisher No More Robots, “Spirittea” has been most successful on Nintendo Switch and Xbox Game Pass. Despite being the weakest platform on Steam, these two platforms accounted for 80% of the revenue.
Rose explained that changes in Steam’s algorithm have led to the platform easily recommending 3A masterpieces, which has indirectly caused smaller-scale games like “Spirittea” to be promoted less. Despite not being promoted by live streamers or YouTubers, the game has been a success, earning three times the cost of game development in the first week.
However, the success of “Spirittea” may serve as another example of survivorship bias in the game industry, emphasizing that for a small-scale game to succeed, the quality of the game itself needs to be appreciated by the players.
“Spirittea” has been released on PC, Switch, Xbox, and other platforms, and has already gained a strong following. Interested players can add it to their wish list to stay updated with the game’s future updates.