Manor Lords publisher says the game's success is 'well beyond what we could have hoped'

GamesCity BuilderManor LordsManor Lords publisher says the game’s success is ‘well beyond what we could have hoped’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Slavic Magic)

Manor Lords tavern - Peasants walking through town

Manor Lords is one man’s unusual take on the joys of managing a medieval city and, after garnering a whole lot of wishlists,sold over a million copies within a few daysof launch. The developer did try to set pre-launch expectations appropriately, warning players this wasno Total War competitor, but thegame’s emergent narratives, relative polish, and thehistorically accurate NPC name Cuntzhascharmed playersand left it sitting pretty on around 25,000 ‘very positive’ user reviews.

PCG had the opportunity to sit down with Tim Bender, the CEO of publisher Hooded Horse, about working with solo developer Grzegorz Styczeń of Slavic Magic on the game, and how they’re trying to manage the scrutiny and demands that come with success on this scale. The main focus in these first weeks, says Bender, is paying attention to the fact that “there’s so many people applying and leaving their thoughts and insights on the game.”

The principle seems sound but, given Hooded Horse has been involved long before Manor Lords picked up the momentum it did, surely some things have had to be re-considered.

“It’s not that we predicted [this],” says Bender. “But if there had been half the number of players, it would still for all intents and purposes be the same: there would still be an absolute ton of people playing and giving feedback, and looking forward to things.

“But to be perfectly honest, what we’ve seen is beyond hopes, right? No-one was sitting there thinking that the game was gonna have more concurrent players for its launch, 173,000 I think, than Total War Warhammer 3 and Civilization 6 on their launches. This was not expected. It went well beyond what we could have hoped, at this point it’s just insane amounts of people.”

It’s the kind of thing that surely tempts a publisher to get more involved. The developer until this point has worked on the game as a solo project but, now it’s out in the wild and that feedback is arriving, how is that relationship changing?

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Manor Lords has been careful not to over-promise, with Styczeń eschewing a traditional roadmap and refusing to set firm dates on when to expect certain features. That doesn’t mean there’s no plan, of course, and interestingly enough one of the loftier long-term goals for the game is to bring a little more period blood-and-thunder in.

“Castles, sieges, and siege engines are a fairly iconic part of the time period, and I have some grand plans for the implementation of these aspects,“Styczeń told us. “I’ve previously showcased how some of the systems might work, and some of them were even in-game for testing at various points of development. Currently, I’m not yet sure how much of it will be available to play with at launch, and how much will be added over time during the early access period instead.”

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