Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 was a breakout hit to such a degree that’s surprised even the game’s publisher. But equally, it served as proof that the company’s approach – games with a narrow focus made for an extremely specific audience – is working better than a AAA appeal to a mass market that may never show up.
“The road to success for us is based on a simple idea: players are looking for niche and very targeted, impactful experiences,” as Geoffroy Sardin, CEO of Pullup, the parent company of Space Marine 2 publisher Focus Entertainment, tells The Game Business.
“The core of our manifesto is we do not design and produce games for everyone,” Sardin continues. “We design and produce games for someone. And when the execution is good, [it might] end up resonating with many more people. It’s exactly what happened with Space Marine 2. To be very frank, we didn’t believe before we launched that we could hit seven million unique players. It was incredible for us.”
We’ve seen that line of thinking manifest in the mission statement of Arrowhead Game Studios, developer of Helldivers 2: “A game for everyone is a game for no one.” We’ve equally seen it in FromSoftware’s septupling down on uber-difficult games. Those games cater so well to a niche core of players that the word of mouth has gone on to make them mainstream hits.
Sardin similarly credits word of mouth from hardcore Warhammer fans for helping build Space Marine 2’s success, and that approach – games laser-targeted at a specific group of players – continues across Pullup’s entire catalog. That includes Focus-published games like Space Marine 2 and road-building simulator RoadCraft, titles with retro spirit from Dotemu, and even niche sims like Train Simulator from Dovetail Games.
“What unites them is their focus on highly targeted audiences who seek uncompromising gameplay and complex game mechanics,” according to Sardin. He specifically cites RoadCraft, which was a hit during Steam Next Fest and seems to have gone on to even greater heights, as exemplary of the company’s methods. “There is no comparison for this game. There is no competition. We are proposing something new. And this is exactly the path we want to pave and invest in.”
According to Sardin, there are 50 games in the works at Pullup’s various labels, and while you can call a few of them – like Space Marine 2 and Train Simulator – live-service titles, none of them are properly AAA. Given the AA approach’s continued surprising success, it seems unlikely to change.
Even Matt Karch, CEO of developer Saber Interactive, was surprised by how well Space Marine 2 has sold.
