As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 13th of August, 2019, after CRANE invested 100,000 euros in them, the young Croatian team got a spring in their step and and created a game that has become a worldwide hit. The director has announced the completion of the game this year.
Last November, eleven members of the Croatian Business Angels Network – CRANE, invested 100,000 euros into a gaming studio and startup called Hyperion Studio from Jastrebarsko, which released the computer survival game ”Journey of Life”.
Not even one year later, this Croatian game found itself on Steam’s list of the world’s top 250 bestsellers. This is a great success not only for Hyperion and the game itself, which is not even finished yet, but also for the Croatian gaming scene as a whole.
“The players have recognised the potential tjhe game has and we’d like to thank them for that. We’re working to improve it each day, and feedback is extremely important to us during this period,” said Adriano Žeželić, Hyperion Studios’ director and the conceptual founder of the game.
CRANE supported Hyperion with the aim of encouraging the Croatian gaming industry and the development of the Journey of Life game, and as Žeželić said, they were given a a spring in their step, mentorship, and financial support when it was needed most. It’s now on this young Croatian team to justify the confidence of those who have invested and complete the game by the end of the year.
“The collaboration has been extraordinary from day one and I can say that I’m extremely pleased. It took us a while to adjust to all the circumstances, but without their support we wouldn’t have gotten into the situation we are in today.The investment we received allowed us to bring the game to the level of competitiveness and successful results. We also agreed with CRANE that the company needs to expand and work on other products,” the conceptual founder revealed.
This Croatian startup has three people in charge of the game’s development and one public relations person, but, as the young director reveals, they plan to hire another developer so they can be even more productive when it eventually expands, which is planned. Otherwise, this unique survival game takes place on an island in the Pacific where the main character has to build basic tools and components for survival out in the wilderness, learn to hunt, and manage life in a dangerous environment.
This Croatian game is currently only available for PCs, but Hyperion Studios has announced that it is preparing mobile travel versions of the game, which will be available in the second half of this year. All of the income, as they pointed out at Hyperion, is being returned back to the company for the best possible game development. “So far, about 12,000 units have been sold, with 2,500 units sold during the first seven days of August. Our goal is to finish the game, followed by a major promotion that should bring significant results,” Žeželić explained.
The team received significant support from players and users from around the world, and the game, according to its co-author, has been sold in more than eighty countries worldwide.
“The biggest interest in the game comes from North America and Germany, and in Europe we have sold at least one copy in all countries except Macedonia. All of our resources and our main focus are currently on Journey of Life, so we don’t plan on embarking on a new story before this one arrives to its Beta version,” concluded Adriano Žeželić.
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