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Choosing to launch your new PC game without including a Steam version can feel like a scary prospect. The Valve storefront maintains a seemingly unassailable cultural presence, even as the likes of GOG, the Epic Games Store, and Microsoft’s Xbox App offer alternatives. Dark fantasy FPS Witchfire did just that, and having now launched on Steam following a year of EGS exclusivity, the game’s developer The Astronauts says it’s extremely happy with the results.
“The premiere of Witchfire early access on Steam went well,” The Astronauts co-founder Adrian Chmielarz writes in a new blog post titled “When players have your back: Witchfire’s Steam story.” He says the launch of the FPS game on the Valve platform “went better than we dreamed,” pointing to the game’s 91% user score from more than 3,000 reviews. “We have sold enough copies not only to secure the studio’s future, but also to be able to invest more in the game and make our Witchfire dreams come true.”
Alongside those sales, Chmielarz says the game is also now on more than 1.1 million wishlists, proving that there’s plenty of appetite for its future audience as it nears full release. “We’ve put a lot of passion and hard work into Witchfire,” he continues, “I want to use this opportunity to bow down to the team, who not only never lost its faith in the project nor ever left for greener pastures, but continue to work as if the best is yet ahead of us. And they are right.”
Contemplating the game’s year of Epic Store exclusivity between September 2023 and its Steam launch in September 2024, Chmielarz says, “I think everybody won. Epic got a pretty unique, good-looking game for a year to strengthen their shop’s presence. The deal with Epic allowed us to keep our independence and continue development without selling part of the studio.” He adds that those who played during that first year “got to play a truly different version of Witchfire, one that will never be seen again. More brutal, raw, unforgiving.”
With the Steam version now out, those who buy the game there get “a game that, sure, is still unfinished – that’s what early access is – but is in a better state and has more content than the initial release. What’s there not to like? I would genuinely recommend any indie studio that can go this route to go this route,” Chmielarz enthuses. “I am glad we did. We have just copied what Supergiant has done with Hades, and it seems to have worked well.”
He also adds that, while the team was happy with the initial response to the Steam launch, things “started to get even better” as positive reviews began to come in and content creators who enjoyed the game shared their experiences. “Our player count more than doubled. We were throwing the number in our team chat every ten minutes or so, enjoying the news.”
Chmielarz notes that he’s also learned “how and when to let go, and what happens when you respect your players.” As noted earlier, he considers the game’s Steam score an incredibly important factor in its continued success. “It’s obvious: Steam is more likely to recommend good games to you rather than bad games.” With that in mind, any bad review hurts – but especially so when it feels “unfair.”
Despite this, however, Chmielarz says he’s learned to not react to “reviews you might consider unfair.” He notes that this is actually what Valve recommends to developers: “They warn you that not all reviews will be constructive, and they say that, rather than lamenting about it, you should focus on your game and the actual feedback.”
“And so we’ve learned to let go,” he concludes. “Unless something is clear disinformation or trolling, we just see if there is something we should learn from the review or not, then move on to work on it if there is. That’s it.” Chmielarz also shares one piece of user feedback that he says particularly touched the team, from a player who formerly pirated the game, then bought three copies to help support development after enjoying it so much.
In closing, Chielarz says, “Rest assured that the success of the early access premiere will neither slow us down nor make us complacent. We are the type of studio that quickly tunes out the praise and focuses on the critique, and we have a vision of Witchfire that we want to execute as soon as possible. So good premiere, GG team, thank you players – but now it’s back to work.”
If you’re not quite ready to take the plunge, we’ve rounded up the best fantasy games and the best RPGs to play on PC in 2024, which should keep you plenty busy.
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