According to Polygon, Planet Centauri’s developers discovered their December 2024 launch was ruined by a Steam wishlist glitch that prevented 138,000 potential buyers from being notified. Valve admitted the system failure and offered the French studio a rare Daily Deal promotion as compensation. The developers randomly selected November 12 for their big comeback chance. That same day, Valve announced the Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and VR headset, completely overhauling the storefront. Planet Centauri sold just over 5,000 copies during the promotion, far below expectations but enough to fund the studio for another year. Developer Laurent Lechat called the situation “bad luck” and admitted feeling like the game is “cursed.”
The brutal reality of Steam visibility
Here’s the thing about Steam’s algorithm-driven storefront – it’s basically a lottery for smaller developers. When Planet Centauri’s wishlist notifications failed, it wasn’t just about missing email pings. The real damage was losing access to high-visibility sections like Popular New Releases, which are crucial for organic discovery. And let’s be honest – how many of us actually pay attention to those daily deal pop-ups? I know I usually click right past them unless I’m specifically hunting for discounts.
Valve’s good intentions, terrible timing
Valve wasn’t being malicious here – they genuinely tried to make things right. But the fact that they scheduled a major hardware announcement on the same day as a compensation promotion for a game they’d already harmed shows how disconnected these massive platforms can be from individual developer struggles. The Steam Machine reveal was huge news – coverage exploded everywhere – and completely drowned out any chance Planet Centauri had of getting noticed. It’s the kind of corporate oversight that feels almost comically tragic when you’re the small team on the receiving end.
The indie developer’s resilience
What’s remarkable here isn’t just the bad luck, but how the developers are handling it. Selling 5,000 copies in a day might sound like a failure compared to their original expectations, but for a small studio? That’s survival money. They’re using those earnings to fund their next game, a 2D roguelike, and they’ve learned valuable lessons about Steam’s ecosystem. No more early access, faster demos, quality over quantity – these are hard-won insights that might actually serve them better in the long run. Sometimes the most valuable education in game development comes from things going wrong rather than right.
Moving forward from the curse
Lechat’s feeling that Planet Centauri is “cursed” is completely understandable after this rollercoaster. But look at the bigger picture – they’ve survived two catastrophic visibility events and are still making games. The studio’s adapting, learning, and pushing forward with their next project. In an industry where most indie studios fold after one setback, that’s actually pretty impressive. Maybe the real curse isn’t bad timing or algorithm failures, but the expectation that any game – no matter how promising – can reliably succeed on Steam’s crowded marketplace these days.
