The Ball World game has unexpectedly turned into a global phenomenon competing with the toughest titles that have dominated the list of the best-selling and most played games on “Steam,” all without massive advertising campaigns.
The surprising success achieved by the game has captured the attention of the world for several reasons, notably that the game does not come from a developer with a successful track record in the gaming industry, nor did it introduce an innovative or revolutionary concept like “PUBG” did in its early days, which is impressive considering its success.
But how did this game manage to reach this position, and will it continue to thrive or disappear among the games that caused a frenzy before fading away?
A journey filled with challenges culminated in success
Although “Ball World” is currently the second most player-retained game on the “Steam” platform, its development journey was not smooth, as described by Takuro Mizobuchi, the CEO of Pocketpair, the game’s developer, in a post on the official game blog as a journey that was not “the commonly accepted correct development path.”
The troubled development journey of the “Ball World” game makes its mere existence a miracle, let alone the significant success it has achieved. Mizobuchi described the development process in a celebratory post about the game’s launch.
Initially, Mizobuchi needed a month to develop just one character in the game world, even though it required another 100 characters. Additionally, the usual organizational aspects of the company were absent, as the company did not set a clear budget for the development process, and there was not much previous experience in game development even within the team working on the game.
The game development team consisted of 40 individuals by the end of the “Ball World” development, and due to the budgetary problems the company faced, they could not hire many experts in game development or even in programming in general. This made the development process haphazard at best, with perhaps the clearest example being the game engine switching from “Unity” to “Unreal” based on the preference of one of the few development experts on the team. Due to this random decision, the game was redeveloped from scratch halfway through.
The rest of the team formed a unique mix of game development and animation enthusiasts, ranging from the person responsible for animating the weapons in the game, who worked in a retail store for half the salary and did not have a college degree, to a person who was previously rejected when applying for a job within the Pocketpair studio before being re-hired to design the game’s monsters entirely.
Regarding the budget, Mizobuchi’s philosophy illustrates the crisis they were going through, as he stated in his blog post: “The maximum budget spending limit was reached until the company’s account reached zero, and then we could borrow money, and when this money runs out, we borrow again until we launch the game and succeed.”
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A game engine primary transform from Unity to Unreal based on the preference of one of the game development experts.
A unique mix of diverse games
The description of the “Ball World” game as “similar to Pokémon” or “Pokémon with weapons” is unfair to the unique experience it offers, as it combines many different aspects of games in a way that initially raised doubts about its success but seems to be precisely what players needed.
Initially, the game categorizes itself as an “RPG,” referring to role-playing games, allowing you to build a character as you wish and explore the world to gain abilities and weapons. It is also a survival game because you need to build a base for yourself, raise small monsters, constantly search for resources, and engage in battles between the monsters you raise in the game. Lastly, it is an adventure and puzzle game like “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.”
This unique mix provided an experience far from boring, constantly generating new content through battles with other players or attempting to catch the strongest monsters, and perhaps uncovering the unique world’s puzzles and story. This mix was lacking among PC players.
Perhaps for this reason, “Nintendo” faces challenges in pursuing a legal case against Pocketpair, as even the similarities between “Pokémon” games and this game are distant and not identical enough to accuse it of intellectual theft.
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Describing the “Ball World” game as “similar to Pokémon” or “Pokémon with weapons” is unjust.
Increasing success
It is challenging to discuss the success achieved by the “Ball World” game as it continues to break records continuously, starting from the number of game copies sold, to the number of players registered at once, the most critical and best criterion for “Steam.”
To better describe this success, it is important to understand the size of the other giant games on “Steam.” The game “PUBG” remains at the top in terms of the number of players registered together, with over 3.2 million connected players. It was followed by the famous “Counter-Strike 2” in the Arab region and the world with more than 1.8 million players, then “Lost Ark” at over 1.3 million players, and “Dota 2” at more than 1.2 million players.
The release of “Ball World” changed this list that had remained unchanged for months without any modifications. The game climbed steadily until it reached the second position with 2.03 million connected players in just five days, alongside selling over 8 million copies in the same period, averaging 86,000 copies per day, according to the “Steam DB” site specialized in “Steam” platform statistics.
The game’s ascent did not happen overnight, starting its journey with 168,000 players at launch on January 19th, then jumping to 910,000 players on January 21st, surpassing the million mark on January 22nd with 1.3 million players connected. It then reached 1.6 million players on January 23rd, followed by 1.9 million players on January 25th, and finally 2.03 million players on January 26th.
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Ball World categorizes itself as an “RPG,” allowing you to build your character as you wish.
Why did it succeed in this way?
Attributing the success achieved by “Ball World” to a single point would be unfair to the game’s experience. However, if one had to choose a single point that led to this success, it would be the absence of real competition in the Pokémon-like sector.
The latest “Pokémon” game – “Pokémon Scarlet and Violet” – has managed to sell 23 million copies to date since its release in 2022 on a single platform, as the game is exclusive to Nintendo Switch devices.
Therefore, when a game appears that offers the same experience lacking for PC players with new additions in a world that makes it more enjoyable, it is logical that it achieves this colossal success quickly.
While the star of “Ball World” shined in a short time, one should not forget the other games that were trying to compete in the same category but did not achieve a similar level of success, including the game “Temtem,” which was promising, yet its content shortage caused it to lose its chance.
What’s next?
The instant success of “Ball World” does not mean that its journey has ended but rather marks the beginning of the journey. While the competition is absent in the Pokémon-like sector, PC games are more competitive than Nintendo games, presenting “Ball World” with a long road ahead to secure its success.
Initially, the game must focus on providing continuous additional content in the form of new challenges, characters, and monsters, a vital step in the game’s journey. Developers should also prioritize developing the game’s features and adding more content to maintain players’ interest in this world. Resolving technical issues and fixing server problems that players are currently facing are essential steps in the game’s development.
In the end, moments like the success of “Ball World” are rare, turning the gaming world upside down and reshuffling the power dynamics in one of the most competitive software arenas.
