Satisfactory, the latest game from the developers behind Goat Simulator, was released exclusively on the Epic Games Store last month and it appears that it has not sold well. According to the developers, the game has sold 9 copies (after some refunds from buyers that were not satisfied with it).

Satisfactory is a first-person open-world factory building game with a dash of exploration and combat. In this game, players can chart and exploit an alien planet, battle alien lifeforms, create multi-story factories, enter conveyor belt heaven, automating vehicles, and research new technologies.

An update on the number of Satisfactory copies sold. We are down to 9. A few people got a refund. I hope you have a better day than we're having. It shouldn't be that hard. pic.twitter.com/1v1TFemmvb — Satisfactory (@SatisfactoryAF) April 24, 2019

Contrary to all of Coffee Stain Studios’ previous titles, Satisfactory is currently available exclusively on the Epic Games Store; a move that most likely did not pay off.

9 is not a satisfactory number — Satisfactory (@SatisfactoryAF) April 24, 2019

88% of 0 is still 0 — Satisfactory (@SatisfactoryAF) April 24, 2019

Not only that, but the team currently doesn’t have any plans for bringing this game to Valve’s digital store.

we don't know, havent planned that far ahead. — Satisfactory (@SatisfactoryAF) April 25, 2019

This right here shows why most indie developers should stick with Steam, at least for now. Yes, Steam is flooded with a lot of mediocre and shovelware games, however most good indie games still sell well there. Of course we should also note that the game is in Early Access so this could also be one of the reasons behind these low sales (in other words, it’s not guaranteed that it will sell 1000X times better on Steam if its current state is not that great).

So, even though triple-A games may sell well on Epic’s store, it’s quite obvious that this exclusivity deal didn’t benefit Coffee Stain Studios. And perhaps this should be a lesson to all other indie developers as such a misstep could very well put their company into real danger.

UPDATE:

Some people suggest that these are parody/trolling tweets (however there is no reason for the team to do such a thing and create a controversy out of nowhere. Also, the fact that the team insisted on attacking pirates and that all these tweets weren’t made on April 1st is fishy). If that’s the case, though, well played Coffee Stain Studios. We’ve reached out to Coffee Stain Studios so we may have more to share if they decide to reply.

UPDATE #2

Although Coffee Stain Studios has not replied to our email, it has posted another tweet in which it basically confirms that the previous tweet was a joke. I still don’t see the reason behind this, especially since the “low sales” issues is something that affected a lot of indie developers in the past, but yeah; apparently everything is fine and there is nothing to worry about the game’s future.

This tweet about only 9 copies being sold was just a joke, btw. We've sold at least 15 by now. https://t.co/UzIOmsKxf9 — Satisfactory (@SatisfactoryAF) April 27, 2019