Manor Lords publisher thinks it's "a little unfair to judge us" on the massive city-builder success because "publishers shouldn't be judged by their biggest hit"

Manor Lords' publisher reckons gaming companies shouldn't be judged based on their biggest hits, but on how they respond to the flops that came before. 

Manor Lords is a massive success story no matter which angle you look at it. The medieval strategy game surpassed records long-held by genre giants Cities: Skylines and Civilization 6 while selling more than two million copies in under three weeks. But in a refreshingly modest executive interview, the game's publisher says it's "a little unfair to judge us by Manor Lords."

Publisher Hooded Horse's CEO Tim Bender, in an interview with Game Developer, said that judging the company after its recent success would be "way too favorable towards us" because "publishers shouldn't be judged by their biggest hit."

"In the end, I think the best way to judge a publisher is by the spread of all of their games," he continued. "How they treat their games that went badly… do not judge them on the big hit." Bender instead encourages developers to "look at the median performance. Look at what happened when something didn't go perfectly, and make sure they're doing what they should be doing there."

Bender believes publishers should "support" the developers behind games that aren't selling well and "stand by them" until they reach their potential instead of giving talented teams the boot at the first sign of trouble. "You know, [some publishers will] sign five games. Four will flop. One will succeed. And they forget about the flops and put all of their efforts into one that's perceived as having the highest ROI," he added. 

In an era where big publishers are shedding developers and closing studios every week, Bender's comments are frighteningly rare. Microsoft recently shut down the talented teams behind Prey and Hi-Fi Rush to double down on its "high-impact titles." Take-Two, the company that has a guaranteed multi-billion-dollar printing machine in GTA 6, also made a similar move to close the Olli Olli World and Kerbal Space Program 2 teams. Comparable cuts are sadly being made across the industry.

In some of 2024’s best patch notes, Manor Lords dev rescues players from sheep that were “breeding exponentially” and taking over villages.