Yacht Club Games, the swagger ladies and gentlemen that they are, just released a blog post detailing some interesting tidbits of information on how the well-received Shovel Knight is doing so far!
Posting tidbits of information here, as always, click and read the link for more information!
http://yachtclubgames.com/2014/08/sales-one-month/
First we have the Kickstarter Reward Breakdown:
64% on PC is staggering! Just shy of 16,000 "pre-order" sales and I'm proud to be among that number.
YCG decides to break down their estimates on how much a game "costs" these days since there's been a lot of talk recently, especially in light of Mighty Number 9's voice acting stretch goal.
Unfortunately, weve now run out of options the only thing left to do is cut the amount allocated for each person by half. So now were running on $5k man months which is extremely low. At first, that sounds like $60k per year, but with the company costs, taxes, etc, in reality, its more like $30k for each of us over the course of the year
and thats before any taxes.
At this point you have to be thinking, $30k minus taxes for one years salary, a grueling work pace (think: 12-18 hours a day, 7 days a week) and no stability whatsoever
.why bother? An NES game, thats not going to sell. The 80′s are over, man, get with the times! The cool kids are all into the AAA explosive action sequences. Youll never make it!
Finally, first week sales:
75,000 copies in the first week is excellent! A much more even distribution among the platforms as well.
There are a few reasons we think our preorder prediction ended up being such a conservative estimate. One is
we were a Kickstarter! Thats not quite the same thing as a preorder. People could only attain the preorder for a limited time, so the stats arent 100% aligned with what a preorder would do. We think due to the PC nature of Kickstarter, we saw a higher amount of sales on Nintendos platform when the game actually got released. Nintendo users are more inclined to buy the game day one rather than through a preorder on Kickstarter. Finally, the preorder prediction isnt a set in stone statistic, but more like a guideline for what to expect. We had done a lot of promotion and marketing at conventions and on media sites to prove ourselves over the course of the year, and we think people responded to it in kind! Nintendo also did an amazing job supporting us through their store placement and own marketing channels.
Finally, first month sales:
Note: this includes review copies and Kickstarter copies
Overall, were extremely happy with the sales! We dont have sales data on many other digital games to offer a comparison, but we do know its doing very well for our company meaning the six of us! This means we can keep our current course and continue making the stretch goal content without fear of disbanding or seeking additional funding. It means we can continue living our dreams producing awesome games for our incredible fans (and soon-to-be fans)! And we still have lots of markets to release the game in Australia, Europe, Japan
although those markets are typically less when compared to America, they will definitely help contribute to our next efforts. The steady supply of free stretch goal content updates should also provide a nice boost in sales once each is released.
After the Kickstarter project ended, we all discussed our sales goals. The number that most of us settled upon was
.when all was said and done, 150,000 copies sold in total. That was our high point! So thank you, everyone, who supported us and made it possible for Shovel Knight to surpass that in just the first month. We are blown away!
Its been a crazy ride! Were not done yet though. Were going to keep working our hardest to keep this game loved, played, and selling like hotcakes. Our new goal is the quest to 1 million sold, to truly solidify Shovel Knight as a modern platinum classic! For all of you who had doubts that a Wii U game or a digital game on a Nintendo platform could sell, we hope these facts show that a good game on any system, marketed the right way, can sell.
Great to hear Shovel Knight is doing well! Looking forward to the free content updates throughout the rest of the year.
