Hello guys!
Black Friday weekend is over, we hope you had fun!
Let me begin thanking all the new community members for their support. Sales have been rising since we released our last update, CORE, a month ago. Traffic has grown x4. It’s not huge, as many players prefer to wait until games come out of Early Access, but we’re happy to see a clear upward trend. 2020 has been a tough year for us all. But we are slowly beginning to reap the results of all the hard work.
With CORE we began a bold transformation: dropping systems that didn’t work, and adding new ones instead. We will continue doing this. Christmas will bring Talismans & cosmetics, and we have some big surprises lined up for early next year.
But the purpose of this article is honest, simple and direct: today, I want to ask you to consider posting a review of Killsquad, if you think we deserve one. Simple as that. Sometimes all you gotta do is ask. So this is us, asking.
Now, I wouldn’t waste your time if this wasn’t important. Here’s why reviews matter:
As many of you know, Steam’s review system allows games to get more visibility based on score. That’s a fantastic approach: rumour says reviews boost visibility up to 500%. We are already seeing some of that visibility boost: we are up some 10 review points in one month, and sales have indeed grown.
Then, why do I feel we need to remind you to post a review, if you think Killsquad deserves it?
First, a lot of us don’t remember to review games. We are having fun and just forget to do it. That’s why we ask you to think for a second: do you like what we are doing? Then a review really does help. Why? Because dissatisfied players, who didn’t like Killsquad, are very motivated to post a review and explain why they are dissatisfied. But players who liked it, often forget to do it. Of course some players hate Killsquad, there is nothing wrong with that, and we accept their reviews as “fair game”. They will post a negative review, and we take those on board as a way to make the game better. But the thousands of people who actually enjoyed Killsquad, and never took the time to say “hey, this game is fun” create an emptiness where we feel negative opinions are over-represented. So if you think the game is worth it, and want to support us, please do spend a minute reviewing it.
On top of that, Early Access games tend to be reviewed worse than full launches. It makes sense: rating an unfinished product is tricky. If I rate Diablo III, I ask myself: is this a good game? But if I rate an Early Access title, the question should be: “is this a game I want to support, so they keep developing it?” It’s quite different. And not everybody sees that. We get some negative reviews saying “the game has a lot of good things, but it’s not ready yet, so I am going to give it a negative review”. We respect that, but please be aware that is actually counter-productive. If you post a negative review, our visibility is lowered. And that game you thought had potential has less chances of success.
Third, Early Access games are dragged downwards by the first weeks of reviews: people who reviewed the game in its first days, and never took the time to revisit their review, and say “hey, the game has come a long way since then, I am going to change my initial review”. Look at No Man’s Sky, for example: it had a really tough start with reviewers, but today it’s an amazing achievement with millions of happy players and a thriving community.
And let’s not forget another key benefit of reviews: it’s an invaluable tool for us to gather feedback from the community. Yes, we read all of them, and many game features have arisen from comments by reviewers. Our CORE update, the new Ping system, lots of bug fixes… that all came from someone taking the time to post a review.
So, let’s look at our own data: we have sold +2500 copies in these last few weeks. But we got only 35 reviews. We wish we had more.
So, do you want to help Killsquad grow? Please consider posting a review. At the end of the day, our plan is dead simple: we’re just a team of game devs trying to do a great game. Which requires money to fund development. Money that comes from sales. Sales that come from visibility. Visibility generated by reviews.
Our goal is to keep working hard, deliver more killer updates, and see our community positively. We would like to reach a point where the game is in a solid “Mostly Positive” overall review state, and then come out of Early Access into full launch. We pledge to do our part, building up systems, features and content. But we can’t do this alone. Killsquad needs you.
We’ve said it a hundred times, and we’ll say it again: we will never give up. We will turn Killsquad into an amazing game. Thank you for always being there. And thank you for reading this.