1000xResist had its biggest sales day 7 months after launch

Narrative RPG 1000x resistance It became a critical darling when it was released in May 2024, but like so many other great indie games, it didn’t receive flowers at the Game Awards in December. But according to Sunset Visitor founder and creative director Remy Siu, the game’s popularity has been rising since the TGA nomination list was announced. Now, Siu reports that the game’s highest-ever sales day was January 2, 2025, almost seven months after launch.

Xiao said the buzz was driven largely by anger over the voting body’s exclusion of the title from nominations.

“I flew back home – my first vacation in four years – and I bought internet on the plane to watch the Game Awards nomination announcement. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any nominations. I’m a little sad about it, but I thought, Yes, it makes sense, we are a small experimental game,” Siu told me in a Bluesky message. “But almost as soon as the announcement was made, people started posting about how frustrated they were that we weren’t included.”

Siu said that after the nominations were announced in August, the game’s “discontinued sales rate” (that is, the sales rate under normal circumstances) increased slightly. Heavy fall sales in September, October and November mean more wish lists and more purchases, and Siu said the Game Awards on Dec. 12 sparked yet another reactionary conversation about the game. The last domino to fall? game Narrative game wins Inaugural Independent Games Awards.

“Sales are not bad before January 1,” Siu said, clarifying that developers expect overall sales to be lower by then. “What must be remembered is 1000x resistance is a weird, experimental narrative game with no traditional gameplay that talks about things that most games don’t talk about – and, there’s a lot of stuff that we want to keep secret.

Siu said the game’s launch and reception trajectory taught him the value of post-launch marketing, but that the mishap may have been worth the risk in order to keep the game a secret. “I think we’ve always known that if we can create an experience that’s engaging enough, it ultimately comes down to word of mouth. Over time, people have to discover it,” he said. That’s exactly what happened.

It’s a rare but exciting success story that highlights the power of the indie community and decentralized forms of marketing such as word-of-mouth – although Siu asserts that “indie publishers don’t always do a good job of making these work.” Experience is possible from what I can tell you.

Siu attributes the game’s recent uptick in sales to several factors – the industry’s well-timed shift to Bluesky, Steam deals and giveaway collaborations with other indie developers, and a mention on year’s best lists like usAs well as collaborations with other games, e.g. Balatero. However, Siu believes that not attending The Game Awards, and the reaction from fans who actually understand the game, was an unexpected benefit.

“I hope word of mouth will continue to lead to more people discovering the game,” Xiao said. “I think there’s enough evidence now that it actually works, and it allows us to make more games in the future.”