Indie Adventure The Flame In The Flood Sees Its Best Console Debut Ever On Switch

The launch of the newest port for The Molasses Flood's rogue-like survival adventure game has set a new record for the title's day one sales.

In a post made to Twitter by publishing director Simon Byron, it was revealed the game has sold well beyond expectations during its launch day for the Nintendo Switch. The port already accounts for one percent of the game's total sales over its 19 months on the market. 

"It’s a real relief having our personal enthusiasm for the Switch being backed up with sales success," Byron says in an interview with MCV. "It’s been incredibly frustrating only having anecdotal evidence about the buzz for Switch titles, so we’ve been genuinely desperate to get a game out there so we could get some hard data ourselves."

While they weren't certain the game would perform well on Switch, the team did see the open nature of the market as a potential plus. Forrest Dowling, president and lead designer at The Molasses Flood, also sees the console's portability as a positive influence when we spoke with him today about the Switch and its indie fortunes.

"I’ve heard the sentiment from owners of Xboxes & PlayStations that they are systems for AAA experiences, big expensive blockbuster type stuff," Dowling says. "But the Switch immediately feels like the sort of system you may want to consume a smaller or less massively cinematic experience on."

Originally released on Xbox One and PC February 24, 2016 with a PlayStation 4 release on January 17, 2017, the title has seen hectic sales patterns since its initial release. Despite limited marketing, the game continues to gain traction with each iteration.

"Along the way we ended up doing a lot better with various sales and features, and had some of our single biggest days in this past year," Dowling says. 

The game's success on Switch has also increased interest in the company's upcoming title  Bomber Crew, which stands as the most wishlisted game prior to launch the company has ever had.

Moving forward, Dowling believes continued support from Nintendo for indie games will be crucial in their sustained sales, The Flame in the Flood being no exception.

"If Nintendo keeps functioning as a strong curator of content, it’ll help the titles that get on it," he says. "It’s also going to need to keep growing and selling units, because I don’t think the install base is large enough yet to sustain ongoing sales for anything less than tent pole releases."

For our impressions on The Flame in the Flood, click here.

[Source: MVC]

Our Take
It's nice to see one of the more engaging indies to release in the past few years getting acknowledged by fans. Hopefully sales will hold steady into the foreseeable future.