Who plays Farming Simulator?

Giants Software and Focus Home Interactive has recently reported, that within a month they’ve managed to sell over a million copies of Farming Simulator 17. This seems like a huge step up, since the previous Farming Simulator went on to sell 3 million copies in two years! Gamesindustry had a little talk with the developers of the project and discussed the secret of their success.

While we can laugh all we want about the absurdity of digital harvester simulation, this genre does have a lot of fans. Many of them do not even consider themselves gamers.

While many of our fans would also call themselves gamers, for many it’s also one of the very few games they actually play. However, I would also say that times have changed. I’m 40 now, and when I was at school it was pretty common that you bought a computer because you wanted to play games. Most parents might not have ever had one. Even less likely your grandparents. Now, my retired dad plays Farming Simulator on his iPad, and when my nephew is visiting them he’s showing him how to use all the vehicles and tools on my nephew’s iPad. Many games are still being made with just the typical gamer in mind, but you could potentially reach people with all kinds of different hobbies who wouldn’t play a video game unless they come across one which overlaps with their interests.

Martin Rabl, marketing and PR manager, Giants Software.

Farming Simulator 17 has mods, multiplayer. It’s a completely non-competitive game with lots of challenges and detailed gameplay.

While the market for these games definitely grew in size, it is still relatively small. Most of the aficionados of this type of entertainment prefer PC as the main platform. Developers are trying to reach consoles and mobile platforms. They are also investing in online multiplayer mode. so that users could play together. Plus Farming Simulator has a huge community of modders, who help to make the game even more realistic. One third of the developers were hired from the Farming Simulator community!

Giants Software is actually also developing a GIANTS Engine. It’s  a real-time 3D game engine with corresponding content pipeline tools. It supports multiple platforms, including consoles, mobile and SteamOS. You can learn more about the software here. It actually looks pretty good.

To learn more about Giants Software and its games make sure to read the original article on Gamesindustry.