Simulations have always been a genre of their own: While most genres focus on making the games as fun as possible, simulations aim to be realistic. The Swiss company “Giants Software” has taken realism to heart so much that their game “Farming Simulator 22” (Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox) has become a central hub for buyers and sellers of tractors. The company benefits from this.
How big is “Farming Simulator” on Steam? In Farming Simulator, you buy equipment and run your own virtual farm. What sounds like an absurd niche game is an extremely successful simulation, particularly on the PC platform Steam:
- In the last 30 days, “Farming Simulator 2022” had an average of 17,500 players – peaking at nearly 40,000. This number of players corresponds roughly to the size of the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV on Steam.
- At release in November 2021, “Farming Simulator 22” even had more than 48,000 players on average and over 96,000 at peak times.
- In the Steam reviews, the title has 90% positive ratings.
What makes the title even more successful: Companies pay Giants Software a lot of money to appear in the simulation and showcase their products.
Farmers used to see new tractors at trade shows – Now in the game
What has changed since then? The series has been around since 2008. Previously, tractors were primarily advertised at agricultural trade shows and in industry publications, where potential buyers could evaluate them.
But now the Farming Simulator has become a way for many farmers to look around the market and test what they might want to buy later. Farmers play the simulation, drive a virtual tractor or another piece of equipment, and then consider acquiring it for their own farm.
This has led to developers now being actively contacted by manufacturers looking to advertise their products in the game.
The marketing chief Wolfgang Ebert says in an interview with Guardian:
In the beginning, we had to ask manufacturers if we could include them in the game. Today, we have to consider whom to include and what benefits it has for the game – We have many, many brands that want to be part of it.
Because the company only has resources to feature about 500 products in the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation versions, and only about 130 for the handheld version.
As the Guardian reports, 25 million copies of the series have now been sold, and some farmers have apparently found their new tractor in the game.
But does the equipment in the game correspond to the real experience? According to the developers: Yes. The developers say that they now receive detailed technical plans for their new products, allowing them to simulate them perfectly.
What do the developers gain from it? Among other things, money. They do not disclose details about how much companies pay for appearing in the game, but it is enough to cover the development costs.
What’s behind it: Apparently, the Farming Simulator is not only lucrative because customers pay for it, but also because companies spend money to be featured in the simulation. This is the huge advantage of being so dominant in a niche that there is no way around the product.
However, this very special situation raises some questions:
- What happens if a new tractor is particularly good but doesn’t appear in the game? Because the company can’t afford the advertising.
- What happens if a new tractor is actually not good, but performs much better in the game than in reality?
The Swiss company has a responsible position here. Because new tractors are expensive investments on which the well-being of farmers can depend.
We also have an editor at MeinMMO who would actually have preferred to pursue a completely different profession and is now catching up in simulations:
I flew 400 hours of Flight Simulator with a controller, now with a Flight Stick – Is it worth it?
