CEO of Manor Lords and Against the Storm publisher says publishers should not be trying to 'break even at the expense of developers' and should be willing to take a loss because they can afford to 'spread the risk'

Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender believes that, while there are a lot of issues facing PC developers, discoverability on Steam is not one of them. “I’ve seen a lot of people argue that right now lack of discoverability is a fundamental problem for PC games, but I disagree,” he writes on LinkedIn.

The publisher has become one of the most prolific—certainly within strategy and management games—with its recent releases including 9 Kings, Cataclismo, Endless Legend 2 and Manor Lords. It’s also got good instincts: a significant number of its published games have gone on to be critical and commercial successes.

Instead, there’s a problem with expectations, he reckons. “Some people complain about the number of games released or wish for some kind of guaranteed exposure, but store platforms should welcome all entrants and let player preferences guide visibility. Sustainability comes from taking hard, early looks at games and the reality of the market size they will reach compared to their costs, when viewed from likely scenarios rather than extreme optimism.”

The trick to sustainability, he says, is being realistic. “If we want stability we have to make sure a given game’s budget is such that ‘success’ in the sense of costs being covered and the team continuing on to the next game is achieved with moderate sales based on a cautious estimation of its likely reach with players. And that does mean that some games should not be made, at least at their planned budgets.”