Ahoy! Wow! A whole year since launch! Let's talk about it.
To date Final Profit has sold 3,691 units on Steam, plus in the Yogscast Jingle Jam around 46,000 units were given away as part of the charity bundle. With 197 Steam reviews from people who bought the game, and a further 65 from those who received copies either through my efforts to promote the game or through the charity bundle. Though still not a single metacritic or opencritic qualifying review which is a bit annoying but what can you do? That RPG Maker stigma is strong yo'.
These aren't bad numbers for the first release of a solo indie dev, the game has recently been dipping its toes into the top 3% of daily Steam sales. Though that gap in the top echelons is significant. Awareness continues to grow, and I know the game can keep doing better because it's darn good! Growth has been almost entirely through word of mouth, so thank you and please keep it up!
Final Profit has been up for a fair few awards lately which is awesome to see! Last week it won the Wildcard Award at the 2024 Freeplay Independent Games Festival! Which was a category the judges made for Final Profit specifically because it surprised them with it's quality and they really wanted it to be recognised since the two categories it was nominated for went to other games (Narrative and Emerging Developers). I think Wildcard is a very appropriate category for this game, I'm sure everyone who's played it would agree. I also recorded my acceptance speech so check it out if that's something you're into.
It's also still up for Excellence in Design at IGF which is fast approaching! I don't know how it's gonna go, but standing next to some really high profile games (Chants of Sennaar, Cobalt Core, COCOON, Cryptmaster, Isles of Sea and Sky) in this prestigious event is extremely cool on its own.
I was recently interviewed as an IGF finalist for Game Developer and I highly recommend you check it out, the questions were great and they showed an awareness of the game that allowed me to really dig deep with my answers.
Now I'm sure you all want to hear about how 1.02.00 is coming along. I really wanted to have it ready for this anniversary, but it's still cooking. I've had a lot of bad health days the past few months that have slowed me down, but it's nearly done! The lighting work overhaul is complete and most of the gameplay systems are either done or nearly done. Private playtesting is currently underway on the game's Discord, this is open to members of the community who have been active and are reliable and interested. There's a lot of new upgrades, the level up reward questline, new customers, new equipment, new cosmetics, new maps to explore, new easter eggs, new secrets, new side quests, and lots more!
Thanks for playing, and for all the continued support!
Please keep spreading the word about Final Profit by telling your friends! It really is a huge help.