{"id":48194,"date":"2025-05-21T11:32:38","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T02:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=48194"},"modified":"2025-05-21T11:32:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T02:32:40","slug":"nintendo-switch-free-to-play-indie-hit-leads-to-major-losses-for-devs-as-monetization-fails-to-keep-pace-with-popularity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-free-to-play-indie-hit-leads-to-major-losses-for-devs-as-monetization-fails-to-keep-pace-with-popularity\/","title":{"rendered":"Nintendo Switch free-to-play indie hit leads to major losses for devs as monetization fails to keep pace with popularity\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Japanese Nintendo Switch exclusive <strong>Dorobo Kindergarten 2<\/strong> is in a somewhat unique position. Following its release in May last year, the free-to-play game has topped 500,000 downloads and has been generating monthly revenue that places it in the upper 10-15% among indies. However, this \u201cmoderate\u201d success has actually led to the developers running at a huge deficit. To make up for the losses and help fund new&nbsp;content for the game, unCompany Games has turned to crowdfunding.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/b2e1ebc49be6d99b4bc0290f5f4f37ca.webp\" alt=\"Dorobo Kindergarten 2\" class=\"wp-image-48196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/b2e1ebc49be6d99b4bc0290f5f4f37ca.webp 1280w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/b2e1ebc49be6d99b4bc0290f5f4f37ca-380x214.webp 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/b2e1ebc49be6d99b4bc0290f5f4f37ca-768x432.webp 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Dorobo Kindergarten 2 is a multiplayer online game centered around \u201cregressive play,\u201d meant to offer adults worn out by modern life a way to regress to a childlike state \u2013 playing with building blocks and making friends. Players take on the role of \u201cthieves\u201d made of magical clay and compete in 3v3 matches to collect the most &#8220;treasure.&#8221; The game is free-to-play with optional in-game purchases.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Due to its quirky concept, Dorobo Kindergarten 2&nbsp;had a successful launch, recording around 500,000 downloads to date. Monthly revenue sits at around $14k USD, which places the title among the top 10-15% of indie games. However, despite this, the game is in a tight spot financially. Half of the monthly revenue goes towards costs involved in running the game \u2013 including platform fees, maintenance and infrastructure costs. This means that only about $7k is left to cover labor costs (including social insurance) of its five-person development team. Not only is Dorobo Kindergarten 2 not turning a profit, but it also&nbsp;has its creators in the red.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image-8-1024x576-1.webp\" alt=\"Dorobo Kindergarten 2\" class=\"wp-image-48197\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image-8-1024x576-1.webp 1024w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image-8-1024x576-1-380x214.webp 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image-8-1024x576-1-768x432.webp 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The game\u2019s monetization relies primarily on paid in-game items. While unCompany Games could probably benefit from raising item prices or increasing the variety of microtransactions, the team doesn\u2019t want to put undue pressure on players. Instead, they&#8217;re going for the approach of growing the user base to boost overall revenue. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To this end, the developers have announced a crowdfunding campaign on <a href=\"https:\/\/camp-fire.jp\/projects\/843559\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Campfire<\/a> to help fund further development of Dorobo Kindergarten 2. The campaign starts on May 21, with an initial target of about $7k USD.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dorobo Kindergarten 2 has seen significant success following its release on the Nintendo Switch, but why are its creators in the red?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":48195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-48194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nintendo Switch free-to-play indie hit leads to major losses for devs as monetization fails to keep pace with popularity\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dorobo Kindergarten 2 has seen significant success following its release on the Nintendo Switch, but why are its creators in the red?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-free-to-play-indie-hit-leads-to-major-losses-for-devs-as-monetization-fails-to-keep-pace-with-popularity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nintendo Switch free-to-play indie hit leads to major losses for devs as monetization fails to keep pace with popularity\u00a0 - 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