Manor Lords publisher shouts out benefit of letting developers cook as its bug-themed RTS and Soviet city-builder launch to rave reviews after up to 8 years in early access

Hooded Horse, a strategy-centric publisher currently backing Manor Lords, has shouted out the benefit of giving developers the time they need to cook.

This month alone, Hooded Horse has had two games cross the early access finish line to rave reviews. Ant-themed RTS Empires of the Undergrowth unleashed its black colony on June 7 and currently has a 92% 'Very Positive' rating on Steam based on over 11,000 user reviews. On the other hand, Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic exited early access last week with a similarly shining reception.

"Steam Early Access can be a wonderful path for games," the publisher recently tweeted, before boasting about both game's record concurrent player counts. "We just released 2 games from Early Access into v1.0: Empires of the Undergrowth v1.0 passed 6,300 concurrent players, while Workers & Resources v1.0 hit 7,500. [Early access] gave each game time to develop to a great launch."

Workers & Resources is particularly well known for mimicking the growth of an in-game city by launching as an interesting but flawed city-builder, before becoming a bottomless well of depth during its 5-year-long early access tenure. Empires of the Undergrowth also spent a whopping 8 years in early access, though it should be noted that Hooded Horse only took over the publishing reigns for both in 2023. 

Hooded Horse's attitude does bode well for Manor Lords though, the medieval hit that it's supporting from the jump. Manor Lords entered early access earlier this year and immediately became a record-breaking success, having sold over two million copies so far, and its release strategy let its creator go into a "dev cave" to "finally add some new features."

Elsewhere, the Manor Lords publisher said “it’s unfair to judge us” on the game’s big success because “publishers shouldn’t be judged by their biggest hits.”