Publisher Hard Shark Games puts out 29 unappealing Steam titles in one day — will any of them sell?

A small publisher named Hard Shark Games released 29 new games on Steam in a single day last week, and the internet is wondering if any of them will make money. The games cover everything from racing to flight simulators to survival horror, all marked as early access and all released on September 15.

The games and the $100 cost

Hard Shark Games is listed as developer for every one of the 29 games, and all of them are early access. The early access blurbs for every game begin the same way: “We’re launching in Early Access to involve the community from the very start.” That line also appeared in the blurbs for two games released earlier, Speedboat Simulator and Toy Battlegrounds: Shoot ‘Em Up Survival.

The company also takes a similar approach to updates. The notes for Starship Fighters, Sky Combat and Streets of Rageness all open with the same sentence about optimized systems and smoother gameplay, each posted within five minutes of the others on March 5.

How much they may have made

Opening a Steam store page costs $100, which is recoupable if a game makes more than $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue. Hard Shark Games spent $2,900 publishing those 29 games.

The Boxleiter Method estimates sales from public review counts. One example: Supermarket Life Simulator could have made up to $885 as a high estimate, or $295 on the low. Pool could have made up to $2,780 or as little as $926. F1 Simulator sits at $1,686 high and $562 low.

Adding the low estimates for those three games alone gives $1,783 in five days, covering more than half of the $2,900 outlay. If the high estimates hold, the investment is already paying off.

The template question

Some of these games look low effort. Supermarket Life Simulator uses the $50 Checkout Frenzy – Convenience Store Simulator Unity template, which many retail sims on Steam share. Steam user reviews claim it is a straight asset flip of the template, a charge levelled at Hard Shark Games often.

The numbers on Steam

Hard Shark Games has 217 listings on Steam, combining 121 games and 96 demos. The highest peak concurrent player count is 13, set by a demo called Supermarket Simulator Pro Demo that is no longer available.

BFG Entertainment has released 555 games, while PlayWay has 340.

Money and the games ahead

No one from Hard Shark Games has said why they released so many games. The company may be one person turning out cheap template-based software at a rapid pace, and that enterprise is capable of making a tidy sum of money.

Key facts

• 29 games released September 15
• $100 per Steam store page, recoupable at $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue
• $2,900 spent on the 29 games
• Supermarket Life Simulator: $295 low, $885 high
• Pool: $926 low, $2,780 high
• F1 Simulator: $562 low, $1,686 high
• Peak concurrent: 13, set by a demo
• BFG Entertainment: 555 games
• PlayWay: 340 games

Source material: “Steam Week in Review: This indie publisher released 29 terrible-looking Steam games in a single day—will they make any money?,” PC Gamer.

early access · game publishing · Indie Games · Steam · viral games