Dear Esther’s super-successful Steam debut

To those who say that indie game developers will never make any money, we've got another example that proves that isn't exactly true. Dear Esther is an experimental PC game, which launched yesterday on Steam. Today we learn that game has recouped its $55,000 financial backing and turned a profit, within five hours of its official online release.

The financial backing came - at least in part - from the Indie Fund, a funding source for independent developers which aims to offer an alternative to traditional publisher models. Developer thechineseroom was the second recipient, following Q.U.B.E. from Toxic Games - that one became profitable after four days.

The Indie Fund itself is pretty indie, too - it was created two years ago by some of the most successful independent games developers, including Braid's Jonathan Blow, Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler (creators of World of Goo) and Kellee Santiago from Thatgamecompany.

There are still more games being funded, too: Keep an eye out for Faraway from Steph Thirion, and Monaco from Pocketwatch Games.

But back to Dear Esther, which has swept the globe over the past 24 hours. The game was originally devised as a reesarch project at the University of Portsmouth, designed simply as a Source Engine mod. After its 2007 release garnered significant critical acclaim, thechineseroom's Dan Pinchbeck sat down with Robert Briscoe (formerly of the Mirror's Edge team at DICE), to turn the mod into a full, standalone game.

Despite all this, nobody really expected the game to be quite as successful as it seems to be: The Indie Fund is surprised that the atmospheric first-person explorer is being accepted beyond the "niche appeal" they had predicted. After selling more than 16,000 copies in less than 24 hours, I'd say they backed a winner.

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5 Responses to “Dear Esther’s super-successful Steam debut”

1. Player Attack: Season 1, Episode 1 « Player Attack says:

   February 17, 2012 at 4:46 pm

   [...] Lego, and the upcoming Dota 2 (which is surrounded by drama). Congratulations are in order for Dear Esther, there's big news for Twisted Metal fans, and we've got the stunning new trailer for Mass Effect [...]

   Reply
2. Steam Weekly Top Sellers: February 19th, 2012 « Player Attack says:

   February 19, 2012 at 12:45 pm

   [...] we're here, congratulations to Dear Esther, still rockin in the top five after a spectacular launch last week. Here's hoping she sticks [...]

   Reply
3. PC Alan Wake breaks even after 48 hours « Player Attack says:

   February 24, 2012 at 6:42 pm

   [...] success at retail. Earlier, we heard about indie darling Dear Esther breaking even after just six hours on Steam. Sure, it took Alan Wake a little longer, but Remedy is a little bigger than [...]

   Reply
4. Friday Screen Time: February 17th, 2012 « Player Attack says:

   March 4, 2012 at 2:58 pm

   [...] I'd like to pretend that it's still Friday somewhere, but the truth really is that we were so busy working on the first episode of the Player Attack vidcast that the humble screens totally fell off the bottom of the to-do list. But! Better late than never, and this week's random collection of screens and artwork is still worth a look. Highlights include: The amusingly-named Basket Dudes, the insanity of Far Cry 3 …and of course, the atmospheric Dear Esther, which enjoyed a considerable amount of success when it launched this week. [...]

   Reply
5. » Travels in Journey and Dear Esther Tim Stobo says:

   April 14, 2012 at 12:17 am

   [...] life as a review of Dear Esther. I had played it as a mod in 2009, and then rediscovered it upon its release earlier this year. I completed a fairly average review and was editing it, when, unbidden, every [...]

   Reply

Article Details

• published: February 15th, 2012
• by: Jessica Citizen
• in: !Pocketwatch Games, !Toxic Games, Company: DICE, Company: thatgamecompany, Company: thechineseroom, Dan Pinchbeck, Game: Braid, Game: Dear Esther, Game: Faraway, Game: Mirror's Edge, Game: Monaco, Game: Q.U.B.E., Game: World of Goo, Indie Fund, Jonathan Blow, Kellee Santiago, Kyle Gabler, Robert Briscoe, Ron Carmel, Steam, Steph Thirion
• comments: 5

Author Bio:

I like video games, fishing, Depeche Mode, long walks on the beach, writing discussion papers and cups of tea. Not necessarily in that order.

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