First of all, the Furballs and I wish you a Wonderful, Happy, and Furry New Year!
But before jumping into 2019, which will be a really tough one for both the Furballs and myself, I'd like to look back at 2018. It was the first year out in the world for the VR Furballs, and we had quite a lot of up and downs...
AN ENCOURAGING START
VR Furballs - Demolition got out in Early Access on Steam on the 2nd of January 2018, so it will be celebrating its first release day soon. Back then a few hundreds curious players gave it a try, and honestly I didn't expect that much at first. Quite a few YouTubers also tried it, and I was so pleased to see that a vast majority of them really enjoyed the game. Of course the game was not perfect, and far from being finished, but overall this start was really encouraging.
A LONG ROAD
VR Furballs - Demolition got out of Early Access on the 21st of November 2018, so it took 11 more months to finish the 30 missing levels of the game (as well as improving a looot of other things). It wasn't an easy period, especially when the game was not selling much anymore after the first weeks (merely one copy a day). Luckily a few of you were of great help, and having you around to help and encourage me made a huge difference, so... LionXV, shane4games, Flag, kylatae, BOLL, computerchy and FunkeymonkeyTTR... THANK YOU. I know the Discord got a bit crowded lately, but I really hope you'll stick around.
THE ARCADE VERSION
On the way I try to go the Arcade path (or "Location Based" market). Quite a few VR Arcades have VR Furballs - Demolition in their catalog. But it does not take their either, and the revenue their are negligible. I hope the addition of the Party Mode will help a bit, but I'm not expecting too much.
THE RELEASE
The official release was somewhat disappointing. It reached my low target in term of sales, but once more, after the first week, it was back down to a copy a day or so. The Oculus Store release had the same effect. And finally, the Christmas update seems to not have helped much. On the positive note, I want to thank the LIV community here. A lot of LIV streamers made awesome mixed reality videos of the game the past 2 months, and once again, I was so happy to see that most of them enjoyed the game a lot.
THE RECEPTION
This is from far the most positive aspect of this VR Furballs adventure so far. The game counts now 98 Steam reviews, all of them positive! And there are soooo many sweet words in those reviews. I'm really happy and proud I managed to bring so much fun and joy to some of you by creating these adorable Furballs.
THE HAPPY TIMES
There was also quite a few happy moments over the year, starting with every single time one of you wrote a nice Steam review, or a nice message on Discord, or streamed/uploaded a video of the game. There was also the Early Access Level Creation Contest. I was amazed by the levels you all created. And there was those 2 times I presented the game in salons.
THE HARD TRUTH
But releasing a "simple" yet good game nowadays without a proper marketing budget seems to be mission impossible. There will always be those rare games that will shine and explode because of their exceptional attraction, but obviously VR Furballs - Demolition is not one of those. So, once again, to those who think that "making a good game" is all it takes, let me tell you that it is absolutely not the case.
THE UGLY
I want to thank again all those influencers who accepted to give the game a try, and the few press that talked about VR Furballs - Demolition. But then I want to point out all those bigger VR influencers and that weirdly biased VR press that never did. For some of the influencers (and the bigger they are, the more true it it), it is simply a money thing, they simply won't play games for free anymore, even if it is one of those rare gems, that's why you won't see VR Furballs on these channels. And for that VR press, it's simply because they are extremely biased. They seem to be only interested in either certain types of games (FPS, space stuff, etc...), or of course, big brands. You can be sure that they all made big articles about the upcoming Angry Birds VR.
THE COMING YEAR
2019 will be tough, for both the Furballs and I. It will be a happy tough for me, because I'm going to be a Dad. Not sure how happy it will be for the Furballs. As I said above, Angry Birds VR is coming, and it already made a 100 times more noise than the Furballs did. Although I'm sure the Furballs will be up to the fight, it will be quite an unfair one. You will still see the VR Furballs coming to the PSVR and Oculus Quest platforms this year, no matter what, but for sure, the arrival of the birds makes everything more complicated.
ALL IN ALL
Do I regret the VR Furballs adventure? No. I'm so proud of what I have achieved. It would of course have been better if it had been a financial success as well as a critical-acclaim... but I'm so happy it was at least one of them. Luckily the story doesn't end here, because I managed to maintain a healthy side-activity by freelancing for other game studios around the world half of the time. So I'll be carrying on with the VR Furballs for at least another year!