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)

I'll probably pick this up next week, just been a busy week for me, heck not everyone buys a game immediately when it is released, especially on the PS Store when it might be hard to notice when things are released if you don't check it frequently.

like I said before and I'll say it again BUT THIS GAME it is well worth $7

Full adventure mode, 100 puzzles, 55 challenges, survival mode, and onlive versus and co-op

hell yeah

I bought this game yesterday... I thought it was fun and looked really good... I liked the 7 buck price tage too because I feel a majority of the PSN titles are way overpriced - You could do a lot worse for your self than to purchase Critter Crunch...

When they release a PSP version I'll be all over it. I've purchased too many PSN PS3 games that I never get a chanes to play, since I have to share the TV, and don't have to share my PC/PSP.

I'm totally with you there. PSP or PC and I'm on it.

You want to know why it's not selling? It's not rocket science.

You released the game right around the launch of Uncharted 2, Brutal Legend and the Toys 'R Us B2G1 sale.

In the last 24 hours I acquired 4 new games, two of them for the PS3. Critter Creatures, regrettably, was not one of them. It looks wonderful and eventually I may get it. But my budget is limited and Critter Creatures wasn't on the 'must have' list. It's simple math.

Gotta agree with you man, its really OVER saturated of puzzles, (and tower defense). But I bought it anyway, very fun game, but not so long as the people are saying, I'm already done with adventure mode, but then again, its only $7. It lasts enough :)

It could also be that the game released in the same time frame as a couple of monstrous PS3 exclusives - Uncharted 2 and Demon's Souls, then let's not forget people are playing Brütal Legend and Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. I have a feeling people just kind of blew their monthly gaming allowance wad on other games first.

I do hope that the demo, and other gaming news sites blogging the game's poor sales despite it's great quality and production will help push people who were unaware of the game to try it out.

This.

I'm 100% certain I'll be picking up Critter Crunch at some point - but right now I'm hip deep into Uncharted 2, and I have Demon's Souls and Ratchet and Clank A Crack In Time lined up for the next weeks after that. This is absolutely the single possible worst releasewindow for a small downloadable title... Even next month or December would be better, but this October is dead on the PSN due to the incredible line-up of AAA titles...

Looks stupid to me. Publishers need to learn: What a sale?=release a demo. No way am I buying something that looks like that without playing it first.

PSN has a major problem - few demos. Its just hard to believe they are so far behind XBLA (I own both systems).

Microsoft has done many things wrong, but XBLA is a very good platform - which is obviously very popular and attracting great devs.

PSN needs to change their standards:

1. Every game MUST have a demo! No excuses

2. Full-game unlocks must be purchaseable (this way its just a tiny download to update to the full version - no waiting = good!)

3. Preferably demos should have a decent amount of content. I was shocked at how basic the Crash Commando demo is. Literally its 5 minutes of playtime against bots.

4. Updates on PSN games should be sane. I've never waited more than 10 seconds for a XBLA game to update (which are infrequent). Compare this to PAIN, which I kid you not had multiple GBs of updates. Its ridiculous.

PSN is falling farther and farther behind at this rate. I will check out Critter Crunch when the demo comes out though, regardless.

I agree with you on the whole XBL vs PSN thing, I had the 360 for a couple years and purchasing gold accounts is always something of an annoyance... it feels like something that should be provided for free. But then purchasing a PS3 when the Slim came out, I was shocked at the difference between XBL and PSN in terms of features like connection speeds, ease of navigation, etc. They're both running off the same router, so it doesn't seem sensible for PSN to feel as sluggish as it does, and the design is plain unsatisfactory.

Regrettably, you get what you pay for, but I'd be happy to pay for PSN (Platinum, perhaps?) as with XBL Gold if it meant I'd get better online service.

The worst part is the games don't even have screenshots on PSN. You literally know nothing about the game, aside from it's logo, unless you look it up online. Even the Japanese PSN and the Wii have screenshots for every game. It's really pretty ridiculous that the American PSN store doesn't.

i mean... look at this game, its just a shiny front on the same old casual game platform, yawn

Simply put, I won't buy a downloadable game unless I can play a demo. When will PSN realize this?

I bought it, and love it.
currently #8 on the leader-boards for survival mode!
add me if you wish to battle! (PSN specimen79)
;)

Heh, I was #9 Yesterday, just shows how many of us really got that game. Added you, by the way. Up to some multiplayer?

The game is fun I just have too much on my slate. I already purchased it though and my lady loves it.

It might help if they released it in the EU aswell, I'd have bought it straight up.

my girlfriend doesn't like playing a lot of games but she plays this one with me all the time. great game just wish it was remote playable and had custom tracks!

The biggest obstacle for me buying is the lack of a demo. 90% of all my PSN purchases have been after trying the demo, but I have passed on some big titles, like Fat Princess, because I want to try them first just to get a feel for the gameplay.

After the demo for CC drops next week, if it's as good as the hype, I'll probably buy it.

Because of New Zealands crappy slow internet connection, I haven't downloaded the latest firmware update. When I do though, believe me, I am buying Critter Crunch!!!

i didnt ignore it because i think its "gay" i ignored it because i already have it on my iphone as you mentioned... it was a great game but not one i want to sit on the couch and play, thats what uncharted 2 is for :)

Easily the best recent PSN release. Hate it for the devs.

Dude, it features a monster puking into another monster's mouth! How is that not machismo. ;)

If it's worth anything, I plan on buying it. There's just so many games right now and I don't have time to play them all. I don't buy them on day one if I don't have time to play them. After all, if I wait long enough, they'll get cheaper.

While this is a fun game... I'm glad I only paid $7 for it. I was satisfied, yes, but this seemed like the kind of game that would be more fit for a handheld than a console.
Also, isn't there already a demo out? I had to download the demo to use the unlock key...

I agree that this is the worst time to release a game. There's just too much other stuff to play. Plus it seems like everyone I know has their birthday Sept-Nov, so my wallet feels a bit light during these months. And I'm starting my xmas shopping.

So, just don't even bother releasing a game Sept-Dec. unless it's meant for 5-10 year olds... because that's the only age group that people buy games for in mass.

Great game with a *lot* of content. For $7 it's a steal.

How about releasing a demo before you release the game? Maybe then you would get some sales.

For me, it is all about a demo. Over 80% of the games I've purchased this console generation, I had played a demo for beforehand. The only PSN game that I bought that I had not played a demo for or actually played the game on another system was Piyotama. I only bought that because it was really cheap and I didn't have much for my PS3 at the time.

The multiplayer is quiet fun, but there is only like 900 players in the rankings so it is very hard to find a game at times. The solo game get´s pritty bad once they ad a ton of stuff and "missions". It´s not balanced at all, stuff just pops up random and a lot of times you instantly know that you need to restard becaus there is no way to get the mission don with the critters on the board. This is especialy bad if you have a lot of stuff to do and the right critters are not poping in wen you are half way don.... This brings a lot of frustration and makes the game quit bad to enjoy.

Don´t be confused by the good and cute GFXs. This is not a great puzzler.

I just bought it last night when I realised I only had $7.20 left on my prepaid card. I wanted the game when I heard about it but I was hesitent, but now that I've played it I like it alot. It's a very good game, fun, and I love the way it looks. I was surprised how nice the opening was for a psn game too.

They didn't release anything on PSN to hype the game though. I don't think there's even a video (unless its in the E3 section, but its not listed on the Critter Crunch part when you select view all).

They should of had a theme too, this game would be perfect for a few themes.

Consider me guilted. The crying critter was too much for me to handle and I bought it. I hope it is as good as it rainbow vomiting furballs led me to believe.

They need to try to partner up with Skittles, because everytime I feed the baby I yell out "Taste the Rainbow!".

Seriously though, PSN store needs more demos. If there's a demo out of this now, great. When I bought it last week, there was no demo; I bought it though because it's a puzzle game and I haven't seen many bad puzzle games.

Two more noteworthy pickups at the same time: Astro Tripper for $4.99 and Shatter for $9.99. I recommend both (especially Astro Tripper, for nostalgic shooter fun).

The demo will help it. I would imagine a lot of people would like to try something like this first.

Didn't this game come out on PSN just last week? What were they expecting? A million sales in just one week? Regardless of the quality of the game, which is definitely good, downloadable games tend to have a slower sales rate. AT the same time games in general can recoup the investment over time as the fact that the game didn't sell everything it could in its first week doesn't mean it won't be selling over the upcoming weeks. I can tell you that the fact that this was reported will get many to buy it.

Humanity has taken another step backwards.........

cool story bro

Their mistake is that they released the game the same month as Uncharted 2.

Previous 50 Comments

Critter Crunch consumer consumption saddening, demo releasing next week

Reader Comments (90)

Posted: Oct 16th 2009 1:25PM EncodedNybble said

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