Cold Symmetry’s tight and focused SoulslikeMortal Shellcame out roughly three years ago, and according to the publisher, Playstack, it has sold a whopping one million copies worldwide. While it’d be easy to attribute this success to pure randomness or, perhaps, the game simply being at the right place at the right time, the publisher just revealed it had set up a fairly comprehensive marketing campaign that’s bound to have helpedMortal Shellbe as successful as it’s been.
In a recent interview withgamesindustry.biz, Playstack’s Vice President of Publishing Rob Crossley went into considerable depth on what his team’s done to ensureMortal Shell‘s success. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if some of the learned lessons may end up being applied to theupcoming rogueliteAK-xolotlthat’s being published under Playstack’s umbrella, too. “There’s no more reliable indicator for a successful game launch than an impassioned community,” said Crossley, explaining how community engagement was the key feature that helped makeMortal Shellas big of a success as it was.
Discussing Mortal Shell’s successes and blunders
Even though Steam Wishlist numbers are important for smaller-scale publishers, like Playstack, Crossley believes that organic experiences, like the ones he outlined above, are what matters the most. “Like with most AAA and premium indie games, the Mortal Shell audience is exceptionally marketing-literate,” he said. “I remember, back in 2020, someone in the chat on Asmongold’s Twitch stream asked him to watch the Mortal Shell reveal trailer, which he did live to tens of thousands of viewers. It’s hard to put a cost on the value of that kind of organic marketing, it’s just so fantastic.”
Mortal Shelldid have a few promotional blunders along the way, of course, but they led to a worthy marketing lesson for Crossley: “You’re only as impressive as your least impressive marketing beat,” he concluded.
