Manor Lords Launch Success Is Far Beyond Expectations, Says Publisher

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Abiyan

At Tech4gamers, I cover all sorts of gaming news. Whether it’s a leak of any upcoming game or an update, an announcement, or a rumour, I like to write about it all. Over the weekend, I sit and write features where I talk about games that I miss or want to see return.

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Manor Lords has been one of the biggest releases of the year on Steam. Around 4 million players had wishlisted the city builder before its launch, and it released to a mighty 170K peak concurrent player count on Steam.

Such results can be considered anomalous for a city-builder, and the publisher is well aware of this fact. Referring to the success of the title, the publisher stated that it vastly exceeded all expectations.

Why it matters: Manor Lords is in a unique position as an impossible project. Despite coming from a solo developer, it seems to be breaking new ground in the city-builder genre.

During a recent interview with PCGamer, the CEO of publisher Hooded Horse, Tim Bender, talked about working with solo developer Grzegorz Styczeń and how they managed the game’s success.

He said that the first crucial thing for the team is to pay attention to everyone joining and leaving their thoughts during the early access period. However, that does not mean Slavic Magic will follow the community at all times.

The developer is planning to release a patch very soon intended to address the recent feedback. This is precisely why Slavic Magic chose an early access launch for Manor Lords.

While discussing the game’s success, the publisher had nothing but positive words.

This was not expected. It went well beyond what we could have hoped.

-Tim Bender

Manor Lords also sold 1 million units immediately after launch. This milestone was achieved within 24 hours, making it just as big if not bigger than many major AAA releases of the year.

According to Tim Bender, Hooded Horse remains committed to supporting the game. This would not be any different had the city builder sold half as many copies, but nobody expected this level of success.

This is a massive launch for the genre and everyone involved in the early access release. Manor Lords was released to over 90% positive reviews on Steam and is still going solid, as thousands of players are currently building their kingdoms in the city-builder.

Thanks to an incredibly polished concept and tons of potential, Manor Lords is poised to grow further. We can’t wait to see how it evolves over the years.

Abiyan

[News Reporter]

Abiyan is on track to complete his Computer Science bachelor’s degree. His enthusiasm for writing and gaming motivates him to keep readers and gamers updated with the latest information from the industry. In his free time, Abiyan enjoys playing Dota 2 and Rocket League. Abiyan has also been cited in reputed websites such as Kitguru, Comicbook, GamingBible, Eurogamer and Gamingbolt.