Hooded Horse and Hinterland bosses butt heads over Manor Lords success

pcgamesinsider.biz:

The head honchos at publisher Hooded Horse, Tim Bender, and developer Hinterland, Raphael van Lierop, have found themselves in a war of words over the performance of the recently released Manor Lords.

It began when van Lierop said that the game was "an interesting case study in the pitfalls of early access". He has since qualified this remark, saying that he did not think that Manor Lords was not a "huge success" but said that the title was an example of what happens when a "game with a small team hits the reality of a hungry audience."

Hooded Horse boss Bender has since come out and said that "not every game should be aimed at becoming some live-service boom or bust" in a post on LinkedIn. 

He added that Manor Lords shifted two million copies in its first three weeks on sale – and 250k units in the last month – with players generally reviewing the game very highly. 

Some of van Lierop's critical assessment of Manor Lords was that it had only been updated a few times since its release, but Bender said that prior to launch, he spoke to the game's developer about managing Early Access and the importance of staying true to his vision. 

"If this industry is to find a more sustainable path forward, we need to move away from takes like the below," Bender wrote on LinkedIn. 

"Success should not create an ever raising bar of new growth expectations. Not every game should be aimed at becoming some live-service boom or bust. And a release should not begin an ever-accelerating treadmill on which devs are forced to run until their mental or physical health breaks down." 

For his part, van Lierop has helmed an Early Access success in The Long Dark.. That game shifted 1.3 million copies in its first three years on sale.