Massive Monster, the studio behind the indie hit Cult of the Lamb, has announced that they will remove the game from Steam despite its success. The reason for this is planned changes in Unity’s pricing policy.
Which game is it? In Cult of the Lamb, you play as a possessed lamb that rebels against the old gods and builds its own cult. The game combines elements of roguelites with base building: you fight through various dungeons, expand your sect with the resources you obtain, and take care of the needs of your cute followers.
Cult of the Lamb was released on August 11, 2022, and became a cult hit. It reached a peak of almost 62,000 simultaneous players on Steam and achieved a total of 94% positive ratings – in the last 30 days, it was even 96% (via SteamDB).
Just in April, Cult of the Lamb received a free update “Relics of the Old Faith” full of new content (via GameStar). In August, a collaboration with indie favorite Don’t Starve added a new game mode.
But if you still have the Steam hit on your wish list, you should hurry: As the developers announced via X/Twitter, they plan to delete their game on January 1, 2024.
Developers urge to buy their game quickly
Why do the developers want to delete their game? The announcement follows the planned change in the payment system of the Unity engine. This is used by many developers to build their games. Starting in 2024, Unity plans to charge a fee for each installation of their games.
For indie developers like Massive Monster, this poses a significant challenge. In a further post, they state:
Our team specializes in Unity games. So what are the impacts on us? Well, we have future projects in the pipeline that were originally intended to be developed in Unity. This change would lead to significant delays since our team would need to learn a completely new skill set.
Massive Monster further states that it is their mission to support and promote new and emerging indie games. For aspiring developers, the introduction of these fees could pose a tremendous obstacle.
Whether the developers genuinely intend to follow through with their plan or are merely expressing their dissatisfaction is unclear. They are urging players to buy their game now and are also directing a demand at Unity: “Stop being stinky.”
For others, the decision to remove a game from the market comes for entirely different reasons: Developer removes their viral hit from Steam to find peace of mind
