Viral FPS dev hits back at "dead on arrival" comments and says it will never add microtransactions: "We don't need to sell millions of copies. We don't need millions of players online at once"

The developers of viral toybox FPS have spoken out at the idea that their game failed because it doesn't have a huge multiplayer population.

Hypercharge: Unboxed is an indie FPS inspired by films like Small Soldiers and the concept of using your little plastic army men to orchestrate huge battles, from your bedroom to your back garden. Over the years, it's picked up a reasonable amount of social media buzz, but that's not always translated into huge numbers of players - Hypercharge sold 100,000 copies on Xbox, but struggled to crack Steam, peaking around 1,600 concurrent players.

Now, as it heads towards a PlayStation release, its five-person development crew appears to be fielding several comments about Hypercharge's 'death'. In response to one comment alleging the game had "failed," the game's official account stated that "maybe there aren't thousands of players online," but that even one couch co-op group having fun with the game is "enough for us," because "not every game is meant to be online-only."

Later, the team issued a full statement. Nodding to the immediate, runaway successes of games like Elden Ring Nightreign, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Splitgate 2, marketing manager Joe Henson pointed out that Hypercharge: Unboxed was made by just five people, and that as a result, "we don't need to sell millions of copies. We don't need millions of players online at once."

Noting that the game is not online-only, and offers splitscreen and single-player modes, Henson says "you can play it however you want. And truthfully, that's perfectly fine. I've said it before, and I will die saying it. Making games has never been about getting rich, becoming famous, or having the most concurrent players."

The game's developers are a group of childhood friends, and Henson says that "as long as we can pay our bills, feed our families, and keep creating what we care about [...] in our eyes, we are already rich."

Deflecting comments about the game's long-term financial success, Henson repeats the long-held adage that you can find that success by simply making "a damn good game." He admits that opting to skip out on microtransactions and a battle pass might lose Hypercharge: Unboxed the chance to accrue millions of players or make the most money possible, but says that the team won't lose sleep "by going against what we believe in."

Closing out their statement in an additional tweet, Henson says that he's got nothing against the likes of Elden Ring, Doom, or Splitgate for their success, but that his game - again, made by a total of fewer than 20 people - "gets compared to huge AAA titles a lot." For all that, however, they point out that "success means different things," and "not selling millions doesn't mean we failed." For the record, Hypercharge: Unboxed eventually debuted at #6 on the PlayStation Store's new game chart, which sounds like a success to me.

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