Hey, gang! So by now you’ve probably seen the butt-kickingly amazing trailer and the shiny new Steam page out now which give all the details, but I wanted to pull our long-time supporters in for a chat to discuss our recent announcement and what it means for the game you all love.
On Twitter I’ve been doing a goofy series of countdown images, with “announcement soon” encoded in a Polybius square cipher because I am a gigantic nerd. It’s all been counting down to this — announcing a deal we’ve been working a long time on, getting Arcade Spirits published by a super awesome game publisher who will publish it in a super awesome way.
PQube are a London-based company who have published visual novels like Steins Gate, and community-powered fighting games like BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. When we approached them about Arcade Spirits, no joke, they were 100% enthusiastic from day one and completely on board with what we were trying to accomplish. It’s been smooth sailing working with them since they really understand Arcade Spirits, and have plenty of experience with our sort of game.
Let’s go over a few common questions I know we’re gonna get asked — but if you have any further queries, just let me know in the comments below.
“What advantages does PQube offer you?”
Two major things — great marketing and additional game features.
We love making games, but we don’t have the kind of gigantic atomic-powered bullhorn you need to be heard above the crowd of other indie games and draw the audience you know would love your game if only they knew it existed. (That’s a ridiculously convoluted sentence, but you get the idea, hopefully.) PQube has that bullhorn, and are ready and willing to blow it to get the word out far and wide.
As for features, there’s a feature or three that fans have been asking us for from day one. I don’t like encouraging speculation but we’re not quite ready to announce anything yet. Trust me, we’ll let you know once we’ve got everything locked down.
“How does the Patreon fit into all this?”
You guys kicking in hard-earned bucks are the best — you’ve helped us guide the story to where it needs to be, find bugs, and more. But even before this deal was made, Patreon only contributed about 10-20% of our total funding. While we’re still majority self-funded, PQube is going to be able to help us push that extra distance and make this more than we could’ve hoped it’d be. So basically everything helps, all of it, and thank you for that!
“Are any of your previously announced plans changing?”
Not really! Everything’s ticking along like clockwork. $25+ backers on Patreon will still be getting a free copy, we’re still going to end up releasing on itch.io (and other platforms) and it’ll still be the game you love. We aren’t surrendering creative control or the IP or anything like that. This is entirely upside with nothing sacrificed to make it happen.
“What can we expect in the months ahead from PQube?”
For starters, we’re on Steam now! Plz wishlist and follow us. PQube’s been very helpful in arranging this! If you’ve been holding off on playing the demo, now you can play it with the push of a button. Please follow the game there and add it to your wishlists, it helps us a lot!
If you’re in Europe, you’ll be seeing them all over the place! They’re at Gamescom right now, getting out the good word of Arcade Spirits. And stateside they’ll be helping us open the right doors to bring our game to conventions in a big way. We’ve got a ton planned, and I’ll be sure to signal-boost their efforts, so keep a look out!
“When is Arcade Spirits being released?”
Current plan is Q1 2019, date and price point unannounced. So, nothing new there, that’s always been the case. Can’t give you specifics yet, but we’ll have specifics later down the line, don’t worry.
“Why doesn’t Gavin exist IRL and why isn’t he my husbando?”
THIS PRESS CONFERENCE IS OVER *kicks over podium* *jumps on motorbike and peels out*
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http://www.arcadespirits.com / https://twitter.com/ArcadeSpiritsVN
PQube Media Contact: pr@pqube.co.uk
FFG Contact: stefangagne@gmail.com