Dear Esther Exceeds Indie Fund’s Expectations, Turning a Profit in 5½ Hours

Indie Fund, a funding source for independent developers, admitted their surprise yesterday at the news that their investment of $55,000 in Dear Esther was recouped after just 5½ hours of the game’s release on Steam.

Not only did the experimental first person game become profitable in less than 24 hours on February 14th, it was also the top-selling game on Steam that day, selling over 16,000 copies.

In a candid blog post, Indie Fund stated:

we are a little surprised by how many people bought Dear Esther so quickly. We were expecting the game to have a niche appeal

Indie Fund also disclosed an excerpt from an email sent to Dan Pinchbeck, from Dear Esther’s developers’ thechineseroom, where they didn’t think it would make a ‘decent’ margin of money on Steam, suggesting a simultaneous PSN release.

We appear to have been very wrong about all this. We are happy to have been wrong

Oscar Wilde once said that “Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes”. I think it is safe to say Indie Fund might just enjoy this experience.

Via: Indie Fund