According to designer Paul Taylor, Mode 7 had set itself a goal of 100,000 sales after a year ”without a significant marketing spend”. The developer even made $135,000 from a paid beta. The game cost $140,000 to develop.
“Frozen Synapse has been a success for Mode 7, both for us personally and for the company,” wrote Taylor. ”We proved that we could make a game that was creatively satisfying and commercially viable. We have been able to put our ‘best case scenario’ plan into practise.”
Mode 7 will continue to support Frozen Synapse with downloadable content, and will port the game to the iPad.
Finishing his port mortem, Taylor stated: ”Frozen Synapse was a labour of love which marked our transition from a low-grade indie company to fully-functional business. Even though the game continues to make a good profit, this transition was by far the most important result. It took over four years - on and off - to create, so now our major challenge is to improve the time it takes to develop games without compromising on the results. Learning to grow and manage an increasingly complex business is a huge challenge, but one we relish.”
Taylor then showed gratitute to the fans who helped beta test the game. “I’d like to thank all of the members of our community who supported us, and particularly those who helped us test the game. I wouldn’t be writing about our success if it wasn’t for you - we owe you a huge amount.”
Frozen Synapse has earned rave reviews from critics since its launch in May.
