My Little Universe Hybrid-Casual Hit to an Indie PC Title video Game
0From a Hybrid-Casual Hit to an Indie PC Title: The Story of My Little Universe. Part 1: SayGames’s Perspective
In March, My Little Universe by developer Estoty and publisher SayGames will release on PlayStation and Xbox. The game will cover all possible platforms, marking the first in-house release of a mobile game on PC and consoles by SayGames.
To commemorate this achievement, SayGames has decided to share their strategy for successfully launching the game on PC and Nintendo platforms. The results speak for themselves: My Little Universe has garnered an impressive 91% positive reviews on Steam—an exceptional outcome for a mobile-first hybrid casual game making its debut in the PC gaming world.
The release story is divided into two parts. In this one, SayGames Publishing Manager Dmitrii Bobrov shares insights into the publishing efforts made for Steam and Nintendo. The second part will discuss the specific features that helped developers from Estoty win over desktop players and overcome the technical challenges they encountered during porting.
Initial Steps
My Little Universe is an action-adventure game where players find themselves stranded on a barren moon with only their tools. The game challenges players to explore nine mythical worlds and over 65 dungeons, gather resources, fight enemies, and upgrade their gear as they work to restore these worlds to their former glory.
The developers at Estoty approached us with a proposal to port My Little Universe to consoles and Steam. While we had ventured into this territory before with Johnny Trigger and Johnny Trigger: Sniper, those releases were handled by another company. This time, we decided to manage everything in-house: communicating with platforms, coordinating development, and promoting the game—essentially everything an indie publisher typically handles.
This task fell on my shoulders. Estoty was the first studio we ever signed a contract with as a publisher. Having long trusted their product decisions, we left all creative choices to them and focused on preparing for the release. The plan was outlined as follows:
Create pages on all platforms where we plan to publish the game.
Release a demo version to attract attention, preferably with fanfare.
Gather the maximum possible number of wishlists on Steam.
In March, I created a Steam page and provided the developers with access to tools and necessary resources. The beginning was set; everything else remained.
Overcoming Marketing Challenges
Desktop game marketing differs significantly from mobile game marketing. There isn’t as much transparency as with user acquisition campaigns for mobile games, where traffic can simply be driven to gameplay videos. Instead, we needed to send out press releases, participate in events, and engage influencers—efforts that required the support of a PR agency.
We sought an agency with experience in bringing mobile games to PC and consoles, ideally within our genre. Our choice was Stride PR. Several factors influenced our decision:
Positive feedback from industry colleagues.
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