Delta-ruining my chance at success- Why Muffles Ep 3 comes out the day after Deltarune
Hello to all the gamers,
Bossy has been insanely busy. Episode 3 of Muffles has turned out to be the most ambitious, creatively challenging, and comedically degenerate thing I’ve ever made. And that is saying something.
I wanted to touch on something that members of the MLS prison discord brought up a few weeks ago that made me go-
“Oh. Oh crap. Well… huh. DANGIT!”
And that is how I timed the new Muffles Episode to be coming out the day after Deltarune. But first, does this sort of thing even matter?
Timing game releases
With the release of GTA 6 on the horizon, the politics and strategies of a game’s release date have been a topic of conversation in the AAA space. Even games of vastly different genres to GTA have been purported trying very hard to time thier games a WIDE distance around the release of what will no doubt be the insane and record breaking release of Rockstar’s next game.
I tend to think this sort of thing is… mostly ridiculous. Mostly. Sure, GTA 6 will take up gamers’ time and make a lot of the other media offerings surrounding it pale in comparison. But I think the reason GTA pulls such HUGE numbers is that it captures many of the very casual (no shade) gamers who do not normally participate actively in this space.
Will GTA compete with FIFA and Blackops (or whatever the biggest online shooty game is right now)? Yeah, it will. Will it compete with RPGs and roguelites and puzzle games?
Yeah I mean, it will a bit. But not a lot! At least, I don’t think so.
The advent of the $80 game
That all being said, price point IS something that I think will affect what games people buy and when. And with AAA games climbing up the price pole for… reasons… to start hitting $70 and $80 thresholds, the buying power of gamers at large is going to shrink.
So yeah, if you’re excited about GTA 6 and ready to drop 80 buckaroons on it (or more), and then ANOTHER game you’ve been excited about… let’s call it Dragon Slapper 7… is coming out for 40 buckaroons the week after, you might hesitate on it.
The voice in the back of your head will say ‘YOU ARE GOING TO GO BROKE STOP BUYING ALL THESE GAMES.’
And some people will say ‘SHUT UP VOICE’ or ‘I KNOW THAT’S YOU MOM’ or whatever, but our dwindling wallets will no doubt affect the market. The more expensive games are, the fewer games players will be buying.
But does this sort of thing REALLY matter on the indie level? And we are talking Deltarune, not GTA 6. How much overlap even is there between Deltarune and Muffles fans? Why haven’t I acknowledged how Game Pass undercuts my buyer power argument?!?
Am I Delta-ruining Muffles? (yes I’m reusing the pun)
First of all, we ain’t talking $80 when it comes to these RPGs. I don’t know what Toby is asking for his new release, but I’m willing to bet it’s exceptionally reasonable, and each new Muffles episode is $4- even less with the release sale!
This means indie player buying power is MUCH MUCH stronger then that of AAA players. Meaning indie players probably have much larger and diverse game libraries then that of their counterparts. And yes, a fair number of titles they’ve never touched but they definitely will someday don’t you even worry.
Competition and growth in the indie space is a good thing for everyone. I don’t think timing Muffles so close to Deltarune is the worst thing for its new Episode 3 release but… admittedly it wasn’t very smart to time it for THE DAY AFTER. That was an oversight.
But deadlines are good. Releases are important. I wasn’t ready to change that release date unless I needed to, and I’m SO excited to say we are still looking good for release on June 6th! How freakin’ exciting is that?!?
In other news…
Hello gamers. Hope this frankly unhinged devlog finds you well. I’m trying to take things a little easier on my last weekend before the new episode release. I’m thinking about going out and getting a doughnut in a bit.
Isn’t life a wonderful thing?
Love and appreciation out to allay’all.
Adios~
