Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout releases in just a few days and it's already starting to look like a huge success story. The competitive multiplayer game is currently in its final beta and beta codes are in high demand, in large part because it's so popular on Twitch. But perhaps the biggest key to Fall Guys' pre-launch success is the recent PlayStation Plus announcement. Fall Guys will be offered for free to PlayStation Plus subscribers on launch day, a strategic decision by developer Mediatonic that's already paying off.
In a recent Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, Mediatonic employees were candid about some of the decisions related to Fall Guys' development. Regarding why Mediatonic and publisher Devolver Digital chose PS+, the game's senior community manager had an interesting response. Specifically, Mediatonic says it was inspired by how well a PS+ launch worked for Rocket League.
When Rocket League launched in 2015, no one could have expected its success. The developer's previous game hadn't left a mark, but Sony saw something special in the competitive car-based soccer game. However, it wasn't an instant success. The game's first several days led to over 100,000 players. But the due to the game's free access and a viral word of mouth campaign, Rocket League had millions of downloads before the end of its PS+ availability. The game's success since then is self-evident.
Fall Guys is trying to do everything Rocket League did, not only going on PS+ but also having a summer launch where competition is thinner. But that doesn't mean Fall Guys is following the same path to success. Devolver's aggressive beta testing, getting codes into the hands of livestreamers, and its social media presence have seemingly already guaranteed its success. Fall Guys looks like it will grow its playerbase significantly faster than Rocket League come launch.
To Mediatonic's credit, it doesn't talk about PS+ as a path to success, though. Fall Guys' lead designer also responded to the question about PS+. To him, launching Fall Guys on PS+ was a "dream" specifically because it meant the game would have lots of players. Success is certainly a product of that, but most game developers truly do just want to see their games be played.
Sony's part in this equation definitely deserves to be acknowledged, too. Apparently, in Mediatonic's first meeting with Sony, the topic of a PS+ launch was brought up "almost immediately." Sony knew Fall Guys had potential straight away. A lot went into getting Fall Guys prepared for success at launch. And now other indie games may aspire to be Fall Guys as opposed to Rocket League going forward.
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout launches on PC and PS4 on August 4.
Source: Reddit