Why We Created the Best Fishing Simulator

What the talk is about

Dmytro Lukash explains why a team with a shooter and Facebook games behind it chose a hardcore free-to-play fishing simulator for PC instead of mobile games or match-3. He walks through the logic: the mobile market in 2013 was crowded, while sports and outdoor genres come with open statistics. In the US tens of millions of people fish, and there had been no good 3D fishing game for years. He covers starting with a small team, reaching Steam Early Access in about a year and a half, and launching on PlayStation 4. He also describes the challenges: realistic physics, weather, photorealistic graphics (including photogrammetry), tackle balance and hard monetization. The main upside is that the niche is difficult to copy. Useful for indie teams choosing a genre and a monetization model.