Hey you cat maniacs! How’s it going?
It's been a while since we did a story time! Now that Schrodinger's Cat Burglar is finally out on Steam, we can proudly share the results of our highly structured marketing campaign with Abandoned Sheep: selling 16 THOUSAND copies in the first two months of launch!
Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar is a unique puzzle game in which you play as a cat named Mittens who has impressive quantum powers. The gameplay revolves around quantum mechanics, where at the press of a button, Mittens can split into two cats, each of whom be controlled to solve puzzles and cause all sorts of trouble!
Our Journey: From Under the Radar to Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam
At the beginning, Schrodinger's Cat Burglar wasn't a game you'd see on your radar. When we first came across it, we saw great potential in this game: the puzzle mechanics, the adorable Mittens, and the unique gameplay. We believed then and there that this would be a very special cat game, and we were right!
After a bit of analysis, we found that the game didn't have much social presence, and the developers were struggling to reach their audience. But throughout our collaboration on the marketing journey, we turned the situation around. We started by participating in events and building a PR campaign around the important announcements long before launch, putting the demo in players' hands and getting the wishlist ball rolling.
Not only that, but we also reached out to so many media outlets and creators throughout our work together. With dedication, hard work, and a bit of luck with the algorithm gods, we were thrilled to see 16 thousand very happy players in the first two months of launch, with it now sitting at Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam! What’s more, Schrodinger's Cat Burglar had more than 5 million views across all platforms during the launch period!
Finding the Audience
Aside from PR campaigns and event participation, Acorn worked with Abandoned Sheep on store page management, social media, copywriting and all the usual bells and whistles. We had free rein to do whatever it took to land the game on your feed, and we were successful. Since Schrodinger's Cat Burglar combines a cute cat with a bit of quantum physics, so we saw an opportunity to reach not only cat lovers, but also non-gaming audiences focused on science and related topics, alongside puzzle gamers, mainstream outlets, and even the local news! This non-endemic exposure helped reach casual players and wider gaming audiences alike.
On the social media front, the road wasn’t always smooth. Let me ask you something: have you ever felt like your content just isn't reaching the numbers you expect? We've been there too. That's exactly what happened with our cat-focused videos, until we pivoted to the core hook of the game (quantum physics), key puzzles, and mechanics, which then went viral overnight! In the end, trying out different angles to showcase your game will ultimately help you reach your intended audience, so don't give up, you got this.💪
One of the events we participated in was the February Steam Next Fest. Because we had momentum going into the show, it gave us a really nice boost in the Steam page’s visibility and wishlist conversion. Our marketing efforts paid off really well, because we also surpassed 100k wishlists in May, so it was an amazing achievement for us at Acorn and the devs at Abandoned Sheep!
We knew from the start this game was something special, and the numbers proved it. Once players got their hands on it, the rest pretty much took care of itself. Marketing is always an amplification of a game’s natural quality - so we were privileged to work on such an impressive title. We wouldn’t have been able to achieve all of this without you guys. Thank you so much for giving your love to our lovely Mittens! You can always support Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar by getting a copy on Steam.
Every game is different, and yours deserves a bespoke approach. It can be challenging to find unique hooks that will stand out among a sea of great indie games and reach your audience, and we’re here to help you find them. Whether it’s for social media, a PR campaign, marketing strategy planning, or influencer and media outreach, we’re more than happy to offer you a free 30-minute consultation, with no obligation to work with us if you don’t want to move forward. Let’s talk!