Simon Byron, director of Yogscast Games, explains the strategy of a publisher born from a network of content creators. Its approach prioritizes games that work both for playing and for streaming, leveraging a massive audience. He talks about the unexpected success of PlateUp! and how they navigate an unpredictable indie market.
The slippery metric: wishlists and sales predictions 📉
Byron demystifies the relationship between wishlists and commercial success. He explains that there is no direct correlation and that they plan with conservative projections to ensure sustainability. This technical approach is based on modeling two-year sales scenarios, prioritizing the studio's survival given the impossibility of predicting a hit.
The art of being wrong by 1.9 million copies 😅
The director recounts how his realistic projection of 100,000 units for PlateUp! became obsolete in a month. The lesson was clear: in this business, your best calculations sometimes only serve to measure the magnitude of your error. A reminder that the only reliable forecast comes when players decide with their downloads.