Joe Martin's Virtual World

What does a successful VR game look like? Joe Martin attempts to interpret the numbers.

Unlike some members of the Custom PC crew, I can’t claim to be very knowledgeable about Rick and Morty. I know it’s an animated series for adults on Adult Swim, but that’s about it. I’ve never watched it. The recently released VR game, Rick and Morty Simulator: Virtual Rickality, was my introduction to the series.

What’s struck me most about Virtual Rickality, though, isn’t the game, but the impression it’s made on the wider VR community. It launched in the same week as Batman: Arkham VR and the excellent James Bond simulator I Expect You to Die, but Virtual Rickality seems to have cut through the noise more efficiently than those two games. Everyone was talking about it and it’s been a huge success. Or so it seems.

The big picture

Most developers keep their sales figures close to their chest, only sharing broad numbers if they manage to exceed expectations. Adult Swim Games hasn’t yet released any figures. Instead, I’ve turned to Steam Spy (http:// steamspy.com), which uses the Steam Web API to infer sales and game data, to answer this question.

Steam Spy isn’t a completely foolproof source, however. It isn’t an official Valve product, but made by a third party with access to all the data. I’ve used it for these purposes because it offers the best data available, and because I believe it’s broadly reliable for the purposes of this article. Still, it’s important to note its flaws and remember that not all games are bought via Steam.