Team Meat Speaks On Microsoft, Sales, And 3DS Development

This afternoon indie developer Team Meat held a candid panel at GDC, providing insight into the tumultuous development of Super Meat Boy, their relationship with Microsoft, and the potential for future titles on the 3DS. Tommy Refenes and Edmund McMillen started off the presentation lighthearted enough (McMillen momentarily entertained the crowd via Skype by waving his cat in front of the camera) but it quickly became brutally honest.

Team Meat made clear that Super Meat Boy isn’t just a punishing experience for fans, but that developing the game was something neither McMillen nor Refenes wishes to revisit. Refenes went as far as to say that the night before the 2010 IGF nominations were announced, he thought he might literally be having a heart attack. McMillen confessed that the pair often worried they were too close to the project. “This is my baby. Is it ugly and only I can see it?” he questioned. Obviously their baby wasn’t ugly, and Team Meat managed to secure a spot for Super Meat Boy during Microsoft’s 2010 Game Feast promotion.

The opportunity necessitated a massive final push to prepare for the XBLA debut, and resulted in what can be defined as two months of development hell. Neither developer took a day off or slept for more than five hours a night. If they missed the window, launch would be delayed another six months to correspond with a different promotion.

Likening it to Groundhog Day, the pair relived the same day over and over. On Refenes’ end, this meant waking up from fever dreams about fixing bugs, fixing said bugs, going back to sleep, and waking to a batch of fresh bugs. Refenes’ parents learned quickly that he wouldn’t stop to eat if they didn’t bring him food, and McMillen admitted that he would tell his wife he “couldn’t do it anymore” at least once a week. Internalizing their stress and fear from each other, both Refenes and McMillen pushed forward and finished the game in time for the fall promotion.

Instead of celebrating come launch day, the stress was compounded by lack of support from Microsoft. According to McMillen, Microsoft projected sales of Super Meat Boy would be on par with that of Hydrophobia. When Hydrophobia (as well as Comic Jumper) underperformed, the pair hypothesizes that Microsoft lost faith in the promotional event and wanted to sweep all if it – including their unreleased title – under the rug.  “It was a mindf*ck,” said McMillen. “It was so confusing.”

Promotional material for Super Meat Boy didn’t go live till halfway through the launch day, and the number one feature spot on the Xbox Live dashboard wasn’t awarded to the team as promised. Instead, they were given the number four spot and were told that impressive sales would increase their visibility. The surprising turn of events lead McMillen to credit the success of Super Meat Boy with Team Meat’s own marketing practices and hard work, as Microsoft helped “in a very limited capacity.”

The good news? Refenes and McMillen’s dedication continues to pay off with nearly 400,000 copies of Super Meat Boy sold between XBLA and Steam, the latter selling significantly better. With a retail version on the way, that number will only continue to grow.

Looking to the future, McMillen boasted that they have secured a 3DS development kit and have plans to work on something for the platform, although they can’t confirm if it will be related to the Meat Boy universe.