Manor Lords Publisher Reacts to Early Access Criticism

In a curious online battle, the publishers of Manor Lords and the survival sim The Long Dark have taken to LinkedIn to discuss how many major updates a game in early access should have, with the duo also discussing the potential consequences that could come from too much added content.

A lengthy post from Hinterlands CEO Raphael van Lierop describes the medical city builder Manor Lords as “a pretty interesting case study in the pitfalls of Early Access development when a game with a small team (and heavily marketed as such) hits the reality of a hungry audience.” Like many, Van Lierop is a fan of the game, but has lamented the lack of significant updates since its April release.

“It launched with a pretty strong base game but without much content,” the CEO continues. “A heavily systems-centric game needs either a range of maps, game modes, or some amount of proc-gen dynamism to keep it fresh. Manor Lords has none of those things. So once you played 5-10 rounds of the game, there’s nothing more to do.”

The CEO of Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse, TIm Bender, was quick to respond to the criticism.

“Before the release, I had a chat with Manor Lords’ dev. I told him that after release, he was going to hear from all sorts of commenters talking about missed opportunities because he failed to grow as fast as they wanted, and judging the game a failure by some kind of expectation they formed,” Bender said.

“I told him to ignore all that — to focus on his core vision for the game, and to keep in mind that the Early Access road is long and that he should not feel any sense of pressure from the expectations of others — for both his own health and stress levels over the coming years and for preserving the state of calm and peaceful mind that supports his creative vision.

Not every game should be aimed at becoming some live-service boom or bust. And a release should not begin an ever-accelerating treadmill on which devs are forced to run until their mental or physical health breaks down.”

Manor Lords was released in early access on April 26. It was the most anticipated game on Steam at the time, with over there million wishlists.