Welcome to State of the Game! This week we'll be covering the week from the 10th to the 16th of April. Most of the top level stats have improved with only the number of releases and average completion failing to follow the trend. Most of this improvement comes from this week's top two titles: the PC port of Bayonetta and the release of Kickstarter darling Yooka-Laylee.
When you consider that Bayonetta is a 7-year-old game it's stats are quite respectable. Indeed as we've reported previously the game has sold very well, blazing past 100,000 units sold in just the first week. For fans of the series, this could give hope to the rumored third installment which has yet to be confirmed by the developer, Platinum Games. However, it could also just be part of SEGA's current strategy of re-releasing their classic library on Steam, which has done well for them with other titles like Valkyria Chronicles.
Yooka Laylee's performance, on the other hand, is rather lukewarm. The game managed to garner over $2 million in pledges from 73,000 backers on Kickstarter and, without an extended beta period, you would expect it to have a much higher average player count. Part of this is likely due to console versions being offered alongside the PC versions and, given the game's spiritual predecessors, it's plausible that many opted for a console version. Barring a breakdown of players by platform from the developers though it's hard to be sure, however.
Dropzone's first place comes to us care of them transitioning fully into a Free to Play model. The developers have long stated that Free to Play was their goal but only just recently committed to the change. Good news is that players who jumped in early will be rewarded for it, ensuring that their faith (and their cash) were not misplaced.
