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Tale of Tales (The Path) - Sunset bombed, is last commercial video game

Z

Zeouterlimits

Member
Seems that Tale of Tales have closed shop, that Sunset hasn't sold, pretty much at all :(

Tale of Tales Blog said:
And the sun sets…
After the barrage of sad tales about depression caused by indies turning into millionaires overnight, allow us to raise your spirits with a story about the liberating and energizing effects of complete commercial failure.

Having a sale is fun. Many people get to play your games who normally wouldn’t and you receive a lot of positive feedback.
But of course that’s not the reason for having a sale. The reason is always a need for money. And in our current economy, money tends to be collected from large amounts of tiny sources. It was a desperate move for us. An attempt to pay the debts caused by the production of Sunset and stay afloat while we figure out what to do with the rest of our lives.
Click to expand...

So far a little over 4,000 copies of Sunset have changed hands. That includes the copies for our backers on Kickstarter. That includes the sale. There’s barely enough income to keep our company going while we look for ways to raise the funds to pay back our debts.
Click to expand...

Their own site has gone down with all the traffic, but here's a google cache version of the blog (Thanks Patrick Klepek)

I backed Sunset on Kickstarter, but haven't gotten around to playing it yet.
It, like other stuff that came out recently (Life is Strange Episode 3) were put to one side while I played through the Witcher.

Sad to see this happen :(

P.S. It's 50% off on Steam.
 
N

Nightengale

Member
Long story short, Sunset is a complete commercial flop.

This is what their blog post on their website opens with :

After the barrage of sad tales about depression caused by indies turning into millionaires overnight, allow us to raise your spirits with a story about the liberating and energizing effects of complete commercial failure.
Click to expand...

Some select quotes, because you all should really go to read it at their website.

In the end, we spent more money than we had on the production of Sunset. Because we wanted to make it really good and reach a wider audience. Compared to the ambitions we had for the game, the extra $40,000 seemed like a relatively small sum. “Surely we can make that amount back in the first month of sales!”

We were wrong.

So far a little over 4,000 copies of Sunset have changed hands. That includes the copies for our backers on Kickstarter. That includes the sale. There’s barely enough income to keep our company going while we look for ways to raise the funds to pay back our debts.

It’s hard to deal with this intense feeling of disappointment in a context of glowing reviews and compliments and encouragement from players. A small group of people clearly deeply appreciates what we do and we curse the economic system that doesn’t allow us to be pleased with that.
Click to expand...

And the sun sets...

We are happy and proud that we have tried to make a “game for gamers.” We really did our best with Sunset, our very best. And we failed. So that’s one thing we never need to do again. Creativity still burns wildly in our hearts but we don’t think we will be making videogames after this. And if we do, definitely not commercial ones.
Click to expand...

A loss for this industry.
 
N

Nightengale

Member
I was F5-ing for a good 10 minutes, thinking this thread was going to be made before I thought "eh, I'll make my own."

By the way, I dunno if they've actually... shut down? Seems like they're just no longer making games?
 
S

skynidas

Banned
the game was too expensive imo. also, I don't see the need of hiring a PR team for a game like this. a lot of mistakes were made apparently.
 
C

CHC

Member
That's pretty sad, but it's also a testament to the power of even a little bit of marketing. I make my rounds far more than the average guy - between blogs, NeoGAF, and reddit - and I've still never heard of this game Sunset. I checked it out on Steam and, incidentally, it looks really cool. Just making good games is not really enough, though. You need to make sure people know about them. Certain titles are blessed by word-of-mouth advertisement but for most, this just doens't wind up being the case.
 
B

benicillin

Banned
Was really sorry to see that post go up on Twitter. They certainly aren't for everyone, but they've always been so genuine with their work and a lot of it has resonated with me even if they weren't really traditional "games." You could always tell they really cared about what they were putting out. The Path was fucking fantastic and so was Fatale.

Hopefully they reconsider one day, I've always liked knowing that they were out there doing their own thing.
 
C

Catshade

Member
Not really surprised. Even comparing it to other indie games, their games are very niche and require specific tastes to appreciate. Can't really go commercial with that kind of mindset.
 
C

CheesecakeRecipe

Stormy Grey
I posted in the Indie Games thread with their tweet, thinking I'd make the topic once the blog came back online. Good on Patrick (and yourself!) for snatching the cache link.

I had a bad feeling about this potentially happening. Sunset garnered a lot of praise at launch, but quickly fell off the radar. The game's OT on GAF didn't even reach a full page of posts. They've fought against the grain for years now to bring something different to the table, and unfortunately, it seems they feel they can't win with gamers.

At least it seems as though they are taking it as a way to free themselves, despite the disappointment laden in every word of the blog post. Even if I didn't fully appreciate each of their outings (Bientôt l'été in particular failed to click with me), I loved their enthusiasm and their attempts to tie culture and art to their personal expressions. Michaël and Auriea, best of luck in your future endeavors! <3
 
A

Axiom

Member
That's a shame, I really enjoyed The Path. Though considering I'd never heard of Sunset I guess it speaks to its success.

I hope the creative forces there keep finding ways to make games and everyone lands on their feet.
 
3

345triangle

Member
i didn't even know sunset came out, much less that it's been in the steam summer sale all this time (which i have bought... a lot from). going to pick it up now while i can!
 
C

chrominance

Member
Sunset is currently 50% off in the Steam summer sale that ends tomorrow. Tale of Tales is also responsible for the intriguing Luxuria Superbia, also 50% off.

Knowing Tale of Tales pretty much only from Luxuria Superbia's demo a while back (which I didn't even know was a Tale of Tales joint), I can see why their games have a niche audience--they seem to be going for very specific experiences with each of their titles that can be hard to explain and don't have universal appeal. That said, I'm kind of surprised that the only reference I heard to Sunset was in a random GAF thread about Steam grid view images. No one else in my usual media wanderings seemed to talk about it at all, though apparently it made it into an episode of Idle Thumbs (haven't caught up yet).
 
M

Mivey

Member
Heard a lot about them and never got to experience any of their works. The blog post made me impulse-buy Sunset, at least got to see what game bankrupted them.

On the upside: At least I won't confuse their name for a weird spin-off from the "Tales of" JRPG franchise.
 
A

Adaren

Member
I've never heard of them or their game before, but I just watched the Steam trailer and bought it.

I don't want to say it's because I feel bad for them (which I do). I legit think that I would have bought it even if their game was doing well. It looks really intriguing!
 
S

Shredderi

Member
As far as being an informed gamer goes, I consider myself very informed about what goes on in the industry and what goes into making a game and what games are being released no matter the platform, yet this is the first time I've ever heard of this game.
 
C

conman

Member
This is a real bummer. It is so hard to find a strong balance between artistic ambition and commercial success in games (or any cultural product, for that matter). Most indies seem to push commercial viability more than artistic ambition for that very reason. There is definitely a market for interesting, experimental, and artistically ambitious games, but figuring out the finances and budget for such a thing can't be easy. Sorry to see them go.

Sunset and Tale of Tales are pretty well known within the indie/art game scene. I've heard many people talking about Sunset, even well before it was released. I'm not sure why sales have been so poor. Maybe it was a pricing issue.
 
A

Atolm

Member
Pity. All of their games look interesting.

Once upon a time I tried to keep informed about all game releases but that's just impossible now even if you read sites that pay attention to indie games. Too many games are released monthly, and without a bit of marketing it's almost impossible to find success.
 
F

Family Fry

Member
Just caught up with this news as I left work, and it's genuinely made me sad.

The Path was the first indie game I purchased about 5-6 years ago and it really did open my mind up to games that had a message, were an experience and something you could think about. It was different and for the first time I actually got that.

I wish Auriea and Michael all the luck with the future and whatever it brings.
 
M

MBison

Member
I enjoy their games and sad to see them unsuccessful but that blog post reads a little snarky. Like the audience is too dumb for their genius.
 
J

Jb

Member
Very sad to hear :(
Their games didn't interest me very much but I was glad they simply existed because of how unique they felt. I was hoping they had found a reliable and decently sized niche audience that could keep them afloat, a shame their ambition with Sunset wasn't met with success.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Shredderi said:
As far as being an informed gamer goes, I consider myself very informed about what goes on in the industry and what goes into making a game and what games are being released no matter the platform, yet this is the first time I've ever heard of this game.
Click to expand...
I tend to follow indie games closer than most. Had actually posted about Sunset in the annual Kickstarter thread and had been following their devlog on TIGForum. It's a shame that they're going to be closing shop; their games were so unique
 
C

Corpekata

Banned
Was never a fan of their work (as much shit as other devs get for making artsty fartsy games, I thought Tale of Tales fit the stereotype far more perfectly), but sad to see them shuttering because of their more interesting projects.

Edit: Oh wait they're just not going to attempt to court "normal" gamers anymore. That's not so bad.
 
F

FoxSpirit

Junior Member
Crimsonclaw111 said:
I have never heard of Sunset.
Click to expand...
Same here.

You need to get some profile or you will simply sink. Engage the community. Talk to GAF. Make a reddit ama. Start a fight with Polygon. Make sure everybody at least has heard the name.

I have now. It's a bit too late, eh? ;-\
 
O

outunderthestars

Banned
Dumb question: what will happen their games now? Will Sunset be delisted?
If I buy it on Steam, will I be able to download it later, even if it gets delisted?
 
S

Sesha

Member
I had not heard of this and I own most of their games.

I'd love to buy this now, but unfortunately I'm broke. I'm sad this is the way things had to end.
 
C

Corpekata

Banned
outunderthestars said:
Dumb question: what will happen their games now? Will Sunset be delisted?
If I buy it on Steam, will I be able to download it later, even if it gets delisted?
Click to expand...

They're not closing down. If you read the blog it's about how their attempts to court a bigger audience failed (taking out ads, hiring PR firm, etc) and that they will no longer be worrying about doing such things in the future because it didn't help.

Edit: NVM I'm wrong. But I would not expect to see them delisted.
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
To be fair, and this isn't a knock so don't take it that way: I just clicked the Steam link and looked at the "advertising images" which tells me NOTHING about the game besides "you're a maid" and "you look out the window." Is there more to the gameplay? The gameplay images don't say. But I can see why most people would pass on it if that's their first impression.

Edit:(I haven't even seen the trailer that's attached nor the store description yet) Just looked at the description which is "you're a maid and you're going through the owners stuff to learn more about him and the world around you" paraphrasing. Which makes sense with the advertising images but doesn't really give an impression of a "must-try" game. Again, not a knock.

It doesn't help that I have never heard of the studio nor Sunset nor their kickstarter. Were they expecting word of mouth or something?
 
J

Jeevesmeister

Banned
Sunset was pretty bad, and they never patched the performance issues a lot of people had with it, even on high-end PCs. With the player character being an insufferable pseudo philosopher and the whole "choosing 'romantic/neutral' chore then fade to white" nonsense it wasn't really innovative or introspective in any way. There's a pretty good review of it here.

Always a bummer to see a developer give up the art, but it really feels like they didn't bother learning from any of their mistakes or considering any of Sunset's design flaws, insteading blowing money on a PR firm and a "creative consulting" agency that was so creative they named themselves "Agency."

The slide at RPS claiming their readerbase all use adblock is pretty pathetic too.
 
F

Fury451

Banned
Crap, this is sad news. I have like three of their games, but I never heard of this at all.

I'll buy it, but so unfortunate to see them in this state.
 
C

Crimsonclaw111

Member
Seriously though you gotta do something to make sure people see your game. As someone said, Reddit, controversy, something. I didn't even see the game on sale, in any capacity, because it wasn't a flash or daily afaik.

You could cut your game to 99% off but if no one knows what it is then nobody will know to look for it.
 
D

Dreamwriter

Member
FoxSpirit said:
Same here.

You need to get some profile or you will simply sink. Engage the community. Talk to GAF. Make a reddit ama. Start a fight with Polygon. Make sure everybody at least has heard the name.

I have now. It's a bit too late, eh? ;-\
Click to expand...

That bit's hard due to GAF rules - your game already has to be popular enough for someone (not you) to make the thread. And really, it's the same in most forums, posting about your own projects is usually looked down upon.
 
K

Keyser Soze

Member
I feel like the company even picked a bad day to make that blog post. If they waited till a work day, a few sites might have instantly picked it up, parroted a few quotes, and got them a few more sales. It will now be old news in 24 hours.
 
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