- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
- Messages
- 98,945
So, that game you keep getting Steam coupons for? There's a reason for that: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-03-12-two-tribes-reflects-on-toki-tori-2s-commercial-failure
Two Tribes made Toki Tori 2, one of the first independently published games on Wii U. To say the game didn't sell well would be an understatement. It bankrupted the company.
Actually, it bankrupted half of the company as Two Tribes is comprised of two different entities. One is a developer, while the other is a publisher responsible for the iOS version of Ronimo's Swords and Soldiers along with the Steam and Wii U versions of the puzzler Edge, among other games.
Speaking to Eurogamer at GDC, Two Tribes co-founder Collin van Ginkel was shockingly frank about the studio's missteps with Toki Tori 2.
"I don't think I would have bought Toki Tori 2 if I was a consumer," he told me. "That doesn't mean I don't think it's a good game. I think we did a really great job. But it's not something I would have bought myself."
"So why make it?" I asked. "Was it about making money to fund other projects, or did you simply lose your passion for it over time?"
Van Ginkel quickly clarified that he waspassionate about turning Toki Tori 2 into a quality product - in fact, he was such a perfectionist that he and the rest of Two Tribes dedicated two years on the project that was expected to last 6-9 months.
"We were super passionate about making it into a really good game," he said. "It is a good game and it's the best game I think we've released so far."
Two Tribes co-founder Martijn Reuvers then clarified "We did not do it for the money."
So if Toki Tori 2 didn't appeal to the people who made it, Two Tribes wasn't in it for the money, and it wasn't being funded by a publisher, why make it at all?
"I think we were trying to please everybody," van Ginkel said. "We were trying to make a game that didn't leave anybody out."
Unfortunately, Toki Tori 2 did leave a lot of people out by virtue of it looking rather generic on the surface. This wasn't a big problem on Wii U, a console with a small install base but little competition in the indie scene. However, Toki Tori 2's lack of character made it fail to stand out on Steam.