Battlebit Remastered released on Steam two weeks ago and the $15, 254-player FPS has been a top seller on the platform ever since, outperforming several big-hitters and even Starfield pre-orders. Why? There's no catch, as PCG's Morgan Park put it, this is just a lot of (very good) game for the money. In an age where it feels like every game's trying to nickel-and-dime you with season passes and cosmetics, that counts.
Now developer SgtOkiDoki has announced that, in the two weeks since launch, Battlebit Remastered has sold 1,800,000 copies. That sure looks like an overnight success but it had a long road here: Battlebit was first announced on Steam Greenlight in December 2016, and was the first project for a collective of experienced modders.
In a new interview with How to Market Your Game, SgtOkiDoki details the slow process of building a community around the game over time, gradually building the hype and setting expectations until, in January 2022, a whole bunch of streamers hopping on a pre-release version saw its Steam wishlists skyrocketing. Before launch Battlebit had over 800,000 wishlists and, since launch, has hit between 70-80,000 concurrent players a day.
One of the more interesting nuggets to come out of SgtOkiDoki's lookback at the development period was how the game had changed based on audience perception. As it is, Battlebit is an indie FPS that moves like Battlefield, looks like Roblox, and has certain hardcore milsim elements. But the latter was once way more pronounced, until the developers realised it just didn't quite work with the look of the whole thing.
"[Players] have an assumption about your game," said the SgtOkiDoki of older versions. "And if the screenshots don’t match the gameplay you have a problem. Our game played like Squad but looked like Roblox. That was a terrible move."
The team looked at the direction Battlebit was going in, and made the call. "We had to make a decision," said SgtOkiDoki. "We had to pull back and make the game more open for arcade. It wasn’t a decision I enjoyed, but I had to do it. it turned out it was a good decision."
Not everything's been rosy for Battlebit: the game's success has seen it become a target for cheaters and DDOS attacks, with OkiDoki focused on firefighting and hiring new staff to deal with this new scale. But the indie Battlefield isn't going anywhere and the developers have reassured players they're committed to the game, and adding even more bang for the buck than it currently delivers, and will do so "whether or not we maintain this level of popularity."
