Axiom Verge Retail Launch!

It’s every game developer’s dream to see their creation on a store shelf, right alongside the Marios, GTAs, and Calls of Duty of the world. The retail launch of Axiom Verge represents a huge milestone for me personally, and I’m grateful for all of the support my fans, friends, and family have given me during this journey. I’m really looking forward to being able to walk into my local Target, GameStop, Walmart, or Best Buy and see Axiom Verge on the shelf TODAY! (Apologies, Europeans. The launch in Europe will be coming a bit later…)

Even though I’ve been working with BadLand Games to publish this, it was still a significant amount of work to get this out. Murphy’s Law was in effect every step of the way, from the timing of getting age ratings (because why use the age ratings for the digital version? That would be too easy!), to re-certification by the platform owners, scheduling production, tracking the shipments of the cartridges and discs often across continents and multiple time zones, etc. So it was not without a little emotion that I watched these videos that the packaging company sent me:

I’d seen and approved of all of the proofs. I knew on an intellectual level that the Switch cartridges had arrived at the packaging facility from Japan and were being assembled into cases, but it was all in email and spreadsheets. Seeing finished product coming off the line and being packed into boxes made it feel real in a way it somehow didn’t before. And just on Friday, I finally got my own advance copy!

In case you haven’t been following, there are going to be 5 different versions (or “skus” as they say in the retail biz): 3 different platforms (Switch, PS4, and Vita) x 2 different editions (standard and Multiverse). The reason it’s not 6 different versions is that Vita will only be available in the Multiverse Edition flavor. The difference between the Multiverse Edition and Standard is that the former includes a behind-the-scenes documentary made by 2 Player Productions – the guys behind all of the Double Fine Presents videos, as well as an art book, and a double sided poster. The Nintendo Switch version is a bit more expensive than the others due to cartridge costs, so we’re including the game soundtrack on CD with that one.

If you’re interested in picking up a copy, there’s a good list of retailers here. One favor I’d like to ask: I’ve heard that retailers are more likely to make the game visible if people ask for it by name. So whether you’re planning on buying it or not, if you happen to be in a store that sells games, please be sure to ask for Axiom Verge!

Before I go, I’d just like to take a moment and give a special shout out to the publisher, BadLand Games. As you may have seen elsewhere on my blog and Twitter, I’ve tried to be pretty open about my son Alastair’s health situation. In short, he was born healthy, but the doctors failed to treat a routine case of jaundice during a critical period when he was just days old. The result was a life-long condition called Kernicterus that is characterized by severe neurological damage which robbed Alastair of much of his motor control and hearing. The reason I mention this is that after we decided to move forward with BadLand Games as the publisher, they offered to donate 75% of their share to a special fund dedicated to Alastair’s ongoing health care costs. They didn’t want to publicize it, since none of us wanted to be seen as trying to use my son’s suffering as a marketing tool for the game. I hope this doesn’t come off that way. I just wanted to thank them for their generosity in offering that up, since it was definitely something they didn’t have to do.

Thanks,

Tom