Case study: results of free distribution of premium games on VK Play Store
In winter, the digital video game store VK Play held a distribution of the premium game “Love, Money, Rock and Roll”. The results of the promotion exceeded the company’s forecasts. Olga Gordeeva, the head of the store, told about the downloads the event led to in her note.
Olga Gordeeva
What is “Love, Money, Rock and Roll” about?
“Love, Money, Rock and Roll” is a visual novel by the authors of the cult game “Endless Summer“, indie studio Soviet Games. The release of the new game took place in August 2022 on PC, as well as mobile devices running iOS and Android. VK Play users rated the title by 8.7 points out of 10.
The game takes place in the 1980s in Japan. A simple schoolboy Nikolai, the son of Soviet emigrants, will have to face the ghosts of the past and terrible secrets, and also decide who in this changing world can really be trusted. The main character will be accompanied by four very different girls, each of whom is ready to tell her own unique story.
What results has the campaign achieved?
The distribution of the game “Love, Money, Rock and Roll” in VK Play took place from February 14 to 15. The action was timed to coincide with Valentine’s Day. We have long drawn attention to the Soviet Games team and the popularity of “Endless Summer”. Therefore, a new visual novel of the studio was chosen as a gift for users for the most romantic holiday.
More than 50 thousand copies of the game were distributed in two days. The campaign also attracted more than 10 thousand new users to the site. The results of the distribution exceeded our expectations. In addition, we noted the growing interest of users in the “Endless Summer”.
Word to developers
As for the creators of the visual novel, they did not make any specific predictions for the circulation of the title, focusing primarily on the quality of the product. According to the founder of Soviet Games Anton Arkatov, “ideally, any developer wants to see as many players as possible in their game.”
This, of course, is not surprising, because the studio has been working on “Love, Money, Rock and Roll” for more than seven years. For comparison, the development of “Endless Summer” took five and a half years. Although, as Soviet Games employees admitted, the intensity of the production process varied greatly, in the first years, for example, development was not very active.
Anton Arkatov also noted that the most difficult stage for the studio was the last months before the release, when the team members were already at the limit of their moral and physical capabilities. “On the one hand, I want to finish and graduate as soon as possible, on the other — you realize that at the very last moment you just can’t cheat and cut somewhere,” the founder of Soviet Games shared.
What’s next?
Since the action with the distribution of “Love, Money, Rock and Roll” has shown excellent results, we at VK Play plan to continue holding similar events with various developers. The next surprise for users of the digital store will be this June (the next one will take place the day after tomorrow).
Interaction between the platform and the creators of the games is ongoing. At the same time, the initiative can be two-sided, that is, there are cases when VK Play independently goes to developers, but studios can also offer their own titles to participate in certain promotions. The store and its users are interested in games of various genres. There are no strict requirements for applicants, and the main selection criterion is simple — they must be interesting and cause a positive response from the audience.
As for Soviet Games, the studio is ready to continue to cooperate with VK Play. The developers hope that the domestic platform will become a worthy alternative to foreign digital stores. The authors of “Endless Summer” also made suggestions for improving the platform. For example, they would like to see a “workshop” where fans could create their own content for their favorite games.
