Snuggle Truck developer and former Sega partner Owlchemy Labs have announced their recent departure from Sega after their join effort, Jack Lumber received poor sales figures. The project seemed to be an experiment for the previously announced indie collaboration, the ‘Sega Alliance’. However since the poor sales figures, the studio has distanced themselves from Sega in search for greener pastures. In an interview with Indiestatik, head honcho Alex Schwartz stated that:
Sega did a good job attempting to market and support Jack Lumber. Right now, our iOS platform sales are much lower than expected.
When talking about the alliance itself Schwartz commented that:
One of our requests was to be 100% in charge of all creative, with sign-off required from us when anything public would be shown about the game. We’re very protective of our brand, and rightfully so. As indies with a niche product and a strong and unique marketing style, we want to make sure that our voice is the one that is heard.
From the gist of the situation it seems that the Sega Alliance has indeed gotten off to a very rocky start. It especially surprises me as this was an inexpensive iOS title yet it still managed to draw very little attention to itself. Despite Schwartz’s comment I can’t help but think that the game could have been marketed better as not many consumers really even knew what the game was to begin with. In the interview it was stated that “Our partnership with SEGA was all about getting eyeballs onto our game.” Unfortunately that didn’t happen this time but I hope they move onto better and hopefully more widely played products. As for the Sega Alliance… I really hope this isn’t a sign for the rest of the project.
[Source: TSSZ News via Indiestatik]
