10 years of dev's work gone to waste. All because of a bug that affected less than 100 games
An indie game developer has shared the unfortunate story of Planet Centauri. The game fell victim to a rare bug on Steam that has affected only 100 games in the last 10 years.
A developer has just shared his experience while releasing a game, which turned out to be a massive disappointment. His team was extraordinarily unlucky - a rare Steam error almost certainly tanked their game’s sales (via Mein-MMO).
A painful launch
The developer of Planet Centauri, a two-dimensional sandbox game, took to Reddit to share what happened behind the scenes of the game’s launch. Development began more than a decade ago, with the game entering early access back in 2016. Over the span of eight years, the game sold more than 100,000 copies, while nearly 140,000 players added it to their wishlists.
With numbers like these, the developers had high hopes for the full release of Planet Centauri. They were counting on a boost from Steam’s “popular new releases” tab - a crucial source of visibility for small studios.
However, the reality turned out to be brutal. In the first five days after the 1.0 release, the game sold just 581 copies and didn’t even make it onto the second page of the most popular new releases. After so many years of work, the result was a real blow for the developers. For nearly a year, they had no idea what went wrong - until they received a message from Valve.
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An error that hit less than 100 games
Steam support had informed the developers via email that Planet Centauri had fallen victim to a very rare error - one that has affected fewer than 100 games in the past decade. As a result of the bug, players who had added the game to their wishlists weren’t notified when it launched. As a result, many potential buyers didn’t even realize the game had been released.
To put the developers’ misfortune in perspective: between 2015 and 2024, around 85,000 games were released on Steam. That means the odds of being among the roughly 100 games affected by this rare error were just 0.12%. It’s no surprise the developer likened the situation to “winning the lottery.”
Valve offered the developers of Planet Centauri compensation in the form of a “Deal of the Day.” These are featured sales that appear on Steam’s main page. However, it was little consolation after the most significant damage had already been done.
I don't even have the strength to be angry. We've been so frustrated, disgusted, and in total confusion. Now we know, we understand better, it's unfair, and we can't change anything. We've started a second project because it's financially impossible to continue patching our game, and we're moving forward, because it's the only thing to do.
The devs admit their mistakes
The comments were filled with sympathy for the developers, though a few pointed observations also stood out. Some commenters highlighted the poor reviews of Planet Centauri and questioned how the game had been in development for over a decade. In response, the devs admitted they had erred by not starting with a smaller, simpler project.
Looking back, the developers said the solution would have been simple: they would never have created Planet Centauri. As a 2D sandbox, the game is one of the most complex ever developed in terms of coding. “It’s a nightmare on every level,” the developers admitted, noting that in the time it took to release this game, they could have created four others.
For those interested, Planet Centauri is currently available on Steam, on sale, for $11.24.
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Author: Martin Bukowski
Graduate of Electronics and Telecommunications at the Gdańsk University of Technology, who decided to dedicate his life to video games. In his childhood, he would get lost in the Gothic's Valley of Mines and "grind for gold" in League of Legends. Twenty years later, games still entertain him just as much. Today, he considers the Persona series and soulslike titles from From Software as his favorite games. He avoids consoles, and a special place in his heart is reserved for PC. In his spare time, he works as a translator, is creating his first game, or spends time watching movies and series (mainly animated ones).
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