Critter Crunch consumer consumption saddening, demo releasing next week

by Alexander Sliwinski on Oct 16th 2009 12:30PM

Critter Crunch sales haven't been all sunshine and rainbow vomit for developer Capybara Games. The Examiner took note of a post on NeoGAF in which a representative for the developer said the team was "very sad" because the game is "not selling so hot." He went on to say that next week's demo will hopefully spur more folks to gobble down the adorably disturbing puzzler.

The $7 price for entry easily makes Critter Crunch one of the best values on the PSN, so what went wrong? The entire situation reminds us of a panel we attended at the Game Developers Conference this year, where several developers of downloadable titles noted that sales for digitally distributed titles drop off dramatically during the holiday season. Braid's Jonathan Blow noted that "March or June or August" are the release windows that downloadable game developers should hope for.

Honestly, if Capybara wants to push some sales, it'll send us a picture of its little guy crying (no, sobbing) and we'll use it in a post to break people's hearts and guilt them into buying the game.

Update: It'll break your heart.

[Via Destructoid]

Source

Tags: Apple, Capy, Capybara-Games, Critter-Crunch, iPod, PSN, Puzzle

Reader Comments (90)

It just doesnt appear to be a long lasting fun game. But ill download the demo. 7$ wont kill me much if i end up to like the game. But then again thats 7$ i can spend on something else.

Trust me its long lasting. There are 100 (!) puzzle levels - not to mention around 50 adventure levels, challenge mode, survival mode, and offline or online multi. This game is SO well made and gives you a lot of bang for your seven bucks.

Everyone do yourselves a favor and play the demo next week. You'll most likely end up buying it because it truly is worth it. Great game.

$7 for this game will entertain you longer then $10 for a movie or $6 for a Hardee's cheeseburger.

I was more-less expecting disappointment after i dished out $7 on another PSN (bought DiggerHD for the same price and that was a shame) but this turned out to be one of my better investments. This game offers a TON of content for the price. As stated by shalter24, 50 adventure lvls, 100 puzzle and another 50 or 100 challenge levels on top of a great multiplayer mode with unlockable power-ups.

This game is another puzzle game, fair enough, but this actually awesome!

You have no idea how entertaining Hardee's Cheeseburgers are to me, sir.

While the look and idea is intriguing, the lack of a demo has kept me from picking it up. This is one that I wanted to try out before I bought.

there is a demo am i crazy because i could have sworn there already is a demo? I downloaded it when i bought the game and saw it in the playstaion store at release now its gone

You may not be crazy, I've seen demos mysteriously disappear from the PSN before, though never appear and disappear before they were announced.

Know what the problem is? The demo is there, but only appears when you actually buy the game! I found it strange too, i bought the game and it showed me two files to download: The demo and the unlock!
I don't understand also why they didn't released the demo for everybody, since its done already :S

I'm sure they've done marketing research that says there is a significant portion of people that will buy new PSN games on impulse when they first come out, without a demo, and that with a demo, some of those people may *not* have purchased the whole game. However, those that insist on trying a demo will still buy it (if they like the demo) whether they get the demo now or in a week or two.

Often, I fall into the first category, but I read up enough on games that I don't worry too much about a lack of a demo. I don't just purchase *any* new PSN game, and I'd say I've only regretted a demo-less purchase maybe 5% of the time.

BTW, I did pick up CC, and I enjoy it, and my fiance LOVES it. It's been great for us to play online together while I'm out of town on business.

Critter Crunch is one of the best PSN game's I've played in a long time. Ignoring this game is just wrong.

I'd rather play this game all day then one hour of the insanely boring Zombie Apocalypse

Is it really that boring? I liked the demo very much, but I got to save the wallet for Trine, and when critter crunch released, and Ratchet went to 10 bucks, Zombie Apocalypse had to be pushed to next year purchases :P
I have yet to buy a Zombie game on psn, the others don't have a demo, so I won't be buying anyway.

I had never even heard of it until last week or so, and I read *everything* posted here... (I think?)

If it was on XBLA I'd buy it. Alas.

Don't know why comments like this get downvoted, it's just silly.

Because its pointless, dribbling, bias crap.

My reasons are that I'm really tight on money and that I still don't fully understand how to play. What's involved is important to know when considering buying a full game. I really wished there had been a demo, so with one coming soon, I will definitely check it out.

Every game should launch with a demo, or even have a demo that releases before the game does.

Anything else is stupid.

On the bright side for this developer, releasing a demo later will raise awareness for the title later and give it a sort of "second life". Sure, other games do this via DLC or sales... but this gives them that opportunity without a lot of extra effort or taking a profit hit.

Really, in the end, it's not the lack of demo, it's the release window. Tons of games out this month.

I can tell you why this doesn't sell. It's yet another strategy game with a grid of different colored pieces which get eliminated based on certain rules. I can play countless games like this for free on the web or as freeware on my PC. The only difference here is that they used animals as the pieces and jazzed up the graphics a bit.

I wish the ps3 allowed easier development of games and apps, including free games and $0.99 games, similar to the iPhone App store. Then you wouldn't see games like this being praised as a "good deal."

im not sure you have the right idea about how this game plays... you might, it just doesnt sound like it, i wouldnt say this is a cookie cutter puzzle game by any means.

Though I have a Ps3, I'd be a lot more likely to buy this game on the PC. I don't play puzzle games on consoles, because I like to watch TV and play puzzle games at the same time.

So...put it on Steam and it's an insta-buy.

Really? I have a hard time doing puzzle games and TV at the same time... usually end up ignoring the TV, since I need to pay attention to the game. At that point, might as well be listening to the Radio, really.

This game's core mode doesn't let you just sit there and think for too long. It requires some quick decision making and paying attention (especially in the side mode where you have like, 30 seconds to accomplish X).

I'm in the minority, I know, but I'm a multi-tasker at heart. I can't just watch TV, or play a simpler game, I have to do both. I've heard it said that it's because I'm female (women tend to be better multitaskers than men) but I think it's just because I have a ridiculously short attention span.

Besides all of that, I do intend to download the demo and I might still buy it. I was very disappointed to see that there was no demo as I don't like to buy ANYTHING before playing a demo.

Heh, I've considered that, since I share a TV with my roommates,

I agree with the need for a demo (or at least some screenshots and videos). Unless you've done research elsewhere, it's a blind buy for a lot of people.

I only intended to buy Battle Cars after the price drop, but I randomly picked up Critter Crunch and I love it. Looks amazing and it's really addictive. Excellent game.

with no demo, no chance of a sell when it comes to PSN & XBLA games.

This is exactly my sentiment, only without the grammatical error.

I refuse to buy any downloadable title that does not have a demo. In fact, I generally avoid buying any game that doesn't have a demo.

Ditto. Ever since the garbage that is Soldner-X. Fool me once...

I find that my trophies on the Sony site often update weirdly, sometimes taking days even if I sync up both through the PS3 and on the Sony site.

I blame the fact that the puzzle genre is over saturated on PSN. Seriously I have like 11 or 12 puzzle games on my PS3. That's enough.

Why would I want to buy this when Racket & Clank: Quest for Booty is now $10? It's all about gaming value for money. They should have released this as a mini for the PSP.

Hmm I don't know... Maybe because you can beat Quest for Booty in about 4 hours?
Critter Crunch is $3 cheaper and I've been playing it every day since it came out. Value.

I bet you're the type of person that would buy The Punisher: No Mercy over Peggle, aren't you?

Sadly I did buy the Punisher, but I bought Peggle first.

these days i find a lack of demo pretty inexcusable. Also - and before i get flamed i have an xbox and a ps3 - i find demos weirdly hard to find on PSN. XBLA 'one card pper game' works much better.

yeah I don't get why the demo and full game are seperate. It's really weird considering that the playstation store is really well designed otherwise.

Lack of advertising? I didn't even knew the game existed until a few weeks ago, and I go to gaming blogs. Plus I think the majority of people often overlook puzzle games thinking they're just gonna be another generic spinoff of a succesful game.

Exactly my thought. Where is a the advertisement ? It so under the radar for people that don't log in to gaming blogs like Joystiq.

Aw. I'll go buy it right now. I'm not sure why I haven't already.

Developers are shooting themselves in the foot by not releasing a demo of their product alongside the release date.

Why would I purchase a game if I don't even know if I'll like it or not?

THERE IS A DEMO YOU DUMBASS!

NOT YET THERE ISN'T YOU DUMBASS

This game seems to me like another flash-based, mini-game shovelware that's being hoisted to every platform under the sun in an effort to make a few measly bucks.

I realise how much work went into this and how proud you are of it this game but at the end of the day, I can hit up any games website, play a clone of something with the same mechanic for free and come away as entertained.

honestly, I find it hard to justify buying most of the games on the PSN for that reason...after spending all that money on a next-gen console, the last thing I wanna do is play games like this...call me elitist but I'm broke and i game very selectively...any game that doesn't make me feel like it's giving my PS3's innards a workout, won't make the cut...games like this belong on the nintendo DS

I spent a few minutes looking at this title on PSN the other night, and my logical conclusion was: "Well, the art's cute, but what makes it worth buying over the other five million tile-clearing games already on the market?" There's no good reason for anything available on PSN or XBL *not* to have a demo available with today's wide availability of broadband and console drive storage. Why should the consumer be expected to take a gamble on a purchase in this sort of market environment with this kind of delivery system, particularly in a time of economic belt-tightening? Even if the price is right, it's still more appealing to "try before you buy".

In any case, I'm looking forward to trying out the demo.

the demo is already out genius

I'll try the demo, and if I like the game I'll buy it. That'll send a clear message that releasing a demo is good for sales of their game, and hopefully other companies will jump on board. In fact, I may just buy the game to prove that even if I'm not really that impressed with it.

I just cried a little inside...

I have this game on my phone...and it was fun then. But the PSN version? Pure beauty. This game is amazing and I wish every puzzle game explored itself and even poke a little fun at the puzzle genre. PLEASE don't hesitate to buy this game, $7 really is a steal for this and a developer who put so much hard work(have you SEEN the art?!?) to put such a tag on it is being ridiculously kind.

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Critter Crunch consumer consumption saddening, demo releasing next week

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