Great Big War Game port for Windows RT made only $83 in its first week (update)

Great Big War Game, the Rubicon-developed 3D turn-based strategy game that was well received when it first launched on iOS and Android devices, made the developer only 52 British pounds, or roughly $83, in its first week when it was ported to Windows RT, according to the studio co-founder Paul Johnson in a recent blog post.

Based on Johnson's estimations, the company spent roughly 10,000 British pounds in developing the port to ARM-based Windows RT devices; However, according to Johnson the game failed to find its footing due to what he believes was a lack of support from Microsoft, he writes.

"A week after release we have made the princely sum of £52 in sales," he states. "That's not a typo. And despite this, and the fact that GBWG is one of only several halfway decent launch titles, Microsoft have confirmed they will not give us any promotional features or help us with visibility in any way.

"If you're familiar with their new store, this means our app is forever consigned to the garbage bin, presumably earning us less than £52 a week in future. Even if that rate is sustained, it will take just under two years before we recoup the salary paid to the guy who did the port."

In comparison, Apple, Android and Blackberry's own app services provided help to the studio in the promotion of the title, he writes.

"Apple regularly promote our apps," he writes. "Android regularly promote our apps. Even RIM (Blackberry) regularly promote our apps. We enjoy working with those companies and it's nice to see them acknowledge that we bring them some small amount of additional value to their setup. Firms our size need a bit of a leg up, and we go out of our way to show our gratitude to the above for helping us out in this way from time to time."

Johnson adds that Rubicon will never again work with Microsoft to bring past or future titles to this platform, while warning other developers against bringing their games to its marketplace.

Update: Johnson has since deleted his post, adding a note stating: "If anyone already read this post, it has had a very positive effect and Microsoft have graciously decided work with us to iron out the problems and get us past this incident."