The developers behind the indie space sandbox game, Planet Centauri, have recently voiced their frustrations regarding a significant setback during their long-anticipated 1.0 launch. According to Laurent Lechat, one of the two developers, a rare bug on the Steam platform severely impacted their sales, leading to disappointing results that a subsequent gesture from Valve has not sufficiently mitigated.
Steam’s Wishlist Notification Glitch
In a candid post shared with the gamedev community on Reddit, Lechat expressed the disheartening reality of how a technical glitch could overshadow over a decade of hard work. He noted, “This is how Steam can ruin more than 10 years of your work.” The issue at hand revolves around a failure in the Steam wishlist notification system, which, as reported by Polygon, affected a small number of game releases—less than 100 since 2015. Planet Centauri was among those unfortunate titles.
On September 12, the developers received an email from Valve acknowledging the problem. The message confirmed that wishlist email notifications for the launch of their game were not sent out, which is crucial for driving sales on launch day. Valve’s communication included an offer for a Daily Deal to help offset the visibility lost due to the glitch, although many in the industry recognize that such deals, while beneficial, cannot fully compensate for the impact of a botched launch.
While Daily Deals can enhance a game’s visibility on Steam, they are often not equivalent to the momentum generated by a successful launch. Experts like Chris Zukowski have emphasized the importance of visibility tools in navigating the competitive landscape of Steam, but even these strategies may fall short of rectifying the damage done by the notification failure.
Lechat remarked on the improbability of their situation, stating, “It’s incredible to win the lottery like this: 100 games impacted in 10 years out of the 86,000 games on Steam.” He further pointed out the irony of receiving only 24-hour visibility in return for such a significant oversight, noting that there are multiple slots available daily for various Steam promotions.
As the gaming community continues to buzz with excitement over upcoming titles like Silksong, Borderlands 4, and Hades 2, the challenges faced by indie developers like those behind Planet Centauri serve as a poignant reminder of the unpredictable nature of the gaming industry and the critical role that platform mechanics play in a game’s success.
