GamingOnLinux - Nikki and the Robots is to be stopped due to low sales

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Nikki and the Robots is to be stopped due to low sales

by liamdawe January 28 at 2:59 pm Open Source

Nikki and the Robots an indie platformer with cute graphics is going to be stopped due to low sales of the story Episodes.

Sad to see this:

Quote
We – the Joyride Laboratories – released the Story Episodes to our game Nikki and the Robots in September. The good news is that we got some really good reviews and customer feedback. People seem to like the game and appreciate the work we put into it. The bad news: we didn't sell as much as we had hoped.

Because of that we have decided to stop working on the game. That also means there will be no further Story Episodes. We would like to apologize to all the people who bought the Story Episodes in hope of further episodes. We shared that hope, but we always knew there was a chance it wasn't going to happen. We are sorry and hope you still enjoyed the game.

The first game, the engine and art are open source, you can find the source info here. They have released story Episode 1 for pay what you want and that's where their low sales have come from.

Looking at their sales they got a total of €4520.67 before any deductions (the largest from Linux too), to me that is a quite low for more than 1 person to live on and develop games.

Trailer for episode 1:

So why not show them so love and buy the first episode? It's pay what you want!

Article posted by liamdawe View more articles from liamdawe

I am the owner of GamingOnLinux! I am a technology enthusiast and a lover of all things Linux. You can follow me on twitter here to see my ramblings on Linux, technology and all sorts!

Comment by KIAaze on January 28 at 3:20 pm Link To Me
	Note that they are on Steam Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=107105028 So maybe, once they get on Steam, they'll get more sales. But the main thing I'm surprised about, is that they never got onto Desura, except for a small announcement there, i.e. no game page. Quote me

Comment by liamdawe on January 28 at 3:24 pm Link To Me
Editor	I first thought they wanted to stick to pay what you want so Desura wasn't the right place...but then to be trying to get on Steam too...not sure why they aren't on Desura now? Quote me

Comment by Ganoo on January 28 at 3:29 pm Link To Me
	Too bad they didn't go for the humble bundle submission, it could have saved them. I feel as if in this case the lack of promotion killed them. Quote me

Comment by avarisclari on January 28 at 3:53 pm Link To Me
	Quote from Ganoo I feel as if in this case the lack of promotion killed them. I have to agree with this, as I didn't even know about it till now. Quote me

Comment by Lop on January 28 at 5:14 pm Link To Me
	Quote from Ganoo Too bad they didn't go for the humble bundle submission, it could have saved them. I feel as if in this case the lack of promotion killed them. Too bad they didn't win the lottery, that was stupid of them! The Humble Bundle is probably the most difficult platform to get on, Steam is easy compared to that, even before Greenlight. Quote me

Comment by tc on January 28 at 6:44 pm Link To Me
	Is €4500 at all that bad for a _first episode_ of a pixel side-scroller with little promotion, without iOS/Android version, without Desura, without HIB (or any other indie bundle), without Steam? Quote me

Comment by Sparr on January 28 at 7:24 pm Link To Me
	I bought this game, but am constantly turned off by the ridiculously long intro level. Quote me

Comment by avarisclari on January 29 at 4:36 pm Link To Me
	Ha, finally had a chance to go to steam greenlight, I'm voting despite being turned off by 3 typos in their own trailer. Quote me

Comment by MyGameCompany on January 29 at 11:52 pm Link To Me
	Quote from KIAaze But the main thing I'm surprised about, is that they never got onto Desura, except for a small announcement there, i.e. no game page. Releasing on Desura might not have helped their sales. My Dirk Dashing and Rick Rocket games have had minimal sales on Desura, despite generally positive comments and reviews. I agree more promotion might have helped, but it seems to be a lot harder for indie games to get exposure these days - at least in my experience. They might very well have been submitting their game to various sites, like I have, but running into the same result I have been - nobody wants to report on my games. Quote me

Comment by MyGameCompany on January 29 at 11:52 pm Link To Me

Quote from KIAaze
But the main thing I'm surprised about, is that they never got onto Desura, except for a small announcement there, i.e. no game page.

Releasing on Desura might not have helped their sales. My Dirk Dashing and Rick Rocket games have had minimal sales on Desura, despite generally positive comments and reviews.

I agree more promotion might have helped, but it seems to be a lot harder for indie games to get exposure these days - at least in my experience. They might very well have been submitting their game to various sites, like I have, but running into the same result I have been - nobody wants to report on my games.

Quote me