The release of one’s indie game is a big moment for developers. It’s unfortunate when something goes wrong. In one case on Steam, Valve wanted to make amends for a mistake, but everything just got worse.
Which game is it about? Planet Centauri is an indie game from the developer Permadeath and first launched in Early Access in 2016. The title is a mix of Terraria and Pokémon and managed to gather quite a few fans with this concept.
Before the full version release in December 2024, the game had already sold 103,400 times and landed on 138,675 wishlists on Steam. Then the game was released in its final version, marking the end of a 10-year development period.
Developers had high expectations given the numbers on Steam, but as they revealed in a post on Reddit, the game sold only 581 times in the first five days. Thus, it was far from making it onto the list of best-selling games on Steam.
The developers were simultaneously puzzled and shocked. The long years of hard work seemed ruined. A question lingered in the air the whole time: How could this happen?
Valve rushed to the rescue
What do the developers say? Just two months ago, the developers received a message from Valve. According to them, there had been a technical issue. Users who had added Planet Centauri to their wishlists did not receive an email notification at release, contrary to expectations.
It was a bug, and Valve wanted to make the situation right. The company offered the developer to feature Planet Centauri prominently on the Steam store on a selected day, so it would still receive the necessary attention.
This way, the game could also be seen by users who did not have it on their wishlist. A great opportunity for an indie studio, one would think. Valve even offered the developers to choose the specific day themselves.
The decision was made for November 12, 2025. A big mistake, as it turned out.
What happened on that day? On November 12, Steam users could not avoid learning that Valve launched several announcements about new hardware. Specifically, the Steam Machine, a VR headset, and a new controller were announced.
And understandably, all of this was prominently visible on the front page of the store. Daily deals on games were overshadowed as a result, including Planet Centauri. Once again, the game fell victim to adverse circumstances – this time not due to a bug, but due to extremely poor timing.
Laurent Lechat from the Planet Centauri team reacted to the incident in a statement to Polygon: “The day was more or less chosen randomly by us. It’s simply bad luck, and we have to accept it.”
Despite everything, the placement in the store had a small impact: The game sold more than 5,000 times on that day. Compared to the high numbers before the release, this seems low, but Lechat emphasizes: “What may seem like a small amount will help us greatly, as it is enough to survive for at least a year and complete our second game, which is currently under development.”
So it is a silver lining, and fans of the studio can look forward to the upcoming title, which will be a 2D roguelike. We can only hope that the release of this game will bring fewer problems and that both Steam’s technology and the timing will play in the developers’ favor. You can read more about it on MeinMMO: What happened to the developer who worked 10 years on a game on Steam and even sold his car?
