The Big Gamble: Gun Monkeys Distributes Keys

What a strange time for game selling we live in. Not ten years ago the idea of doing basically anything other than heading down to your local Woolworths and picking up an honest-to-goodness box was madness. Now, not only would there have to be a special case for a game to come in any sort of packaging but you can do anything from pay for a game before it's made to never pay for it at all. And here's yet another method: distributing copies of multiplayer indie platformer blast-em-up Gun Monkeys to those who spend a long time waiting to find a game. In a blog post yesterday, Size Five Games man Dan Marshall outlined the plan as a way to drum up interest in the game and ensure current players get the experience they paid for. Full statement below.

It’s a unique solution to a frustrating situation. Despite universally positive reviews, Gun Monkeys just hasn’t sold enough to keep servers perpetually-buzzing with players. It’s infuriating, but the important thing to do now is to make sure the people who have bought the game can enjoy it as intended.

The most frequent comment in my inbox at the moment is ‘this game is amazing, why aren’t more people playing it?’ Well, hopefully this move will bring in new interested players too, since they’ll always be able to play friends when servers are quiet.

Free keys are limited per player, and it won’t generate free copies for ever, but for now it’s a fun and unusual way to combat the Curse of the Indie Multiplayer Game. Let’s see how it goes.

It's an odd plan and quite a risk after having already dropped the price of the game in recent months. Still, as mentioned in that link, development costs have already been recouped so the main aim seems to be keeping players happy. If this doesn't work, I really can't think of anything that would. Any of you lot out there playing?