PlayStation Plus helped this indie game hit 10 million new players
PlayStation Plus is a subscription service offered by Sony that allows players to access online multiplayer and receive monthly free games, among other perks. It’s become a staple for PlayStation owners, with millions of subscribers worldwide. It’s also been a driving force behind the success of many indie games. Normally, we don’t hear much about how beneficial or detrimental larger services like Plus are to smaller developers, but today, we get quite the glimpse!
Deep Rock Galactic, a title developed by Ghost Ship Games, has experienced a surge in popularity thanks to its inclusion in the PlayStation Plus free games lineup for January 2022. During an Embracer Group earnings call this week, Ghost Ship Games CEO Soren Lundgaard revealed that the game gained 10 million new players “very, very fast” following the PS Plus release.
Lundgaard was happy to share the success of they struck, which he credited more to the PlayStation Plus promotion than anything else. In the call, he stated that the decision to place it on the service “propelled the Deep Rock Galactic IP even further into closing into mainstream.”
For those who are unfamiliar with the game, Deep Rock Galactic is a cooperative first-person shooter game set in space, where players are part of a team of dwarves tasked with exploring procedurally generated caves, fighting hordes of aliens, and collecting valuable resources. It was released in early access on Steam in 2018 and officially launched in 2020.
This explosive growth marks a major milestone for the game and its developer. The added exposure and player base will undoubtedly help Ghost Ship Games continue to improve and expand upon the title, as well as provide a boost in revenue. In fact, the version released is already doing much better than the initial 1.0 version that predates Sony’s subscription model.
The success of Deep Rock Galactic on PS Plus highlights the importance of promotion and exposure for indie games. While many indies have a dedicated fan base, it can be difficult for them to break into the mainstream without the help of a larger platform or promotion. That’s not at all to minimize the hard work that the devs put in though, as they deserve every bit of their success for the sleepless nights they put in to create and improve the game.
