And the award for most barebones marketing for a Steam release of a game with an incredibly passionate fanbase goes to Square Enix, for NEO: The World Ends With You!
Out of absolutely nowhere, Square Enix just decided, “Hmm, why don’t we simply release NEO: The World Ends With You on Steam with no prior marketing or warning? Wouldn’t that be a goofy and silly idea?”. And so that’s exactly what they did this morning.
We heard your call! 📳
NEO: The World Ends with You is out now on Steam, and is 25% off too! https://t.co/7rrIq2A2FZ pic.twitter.com/nFvH72NP08
— Square Enix (@SquareEnix) October 19, 2022
Shadowdropping NEO: The World Ends With You on Steam with a 25% off discount is honestly a bit of a cheeky move. However, there’s definitely a worry that this gem of a game will be overshadowed by two very big releases, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection and Persona 5 Royal on more consoles.
While this is a great, fantastic news. I feel that this tweet alone is the tombstone of the game. No fanfare, no advertisement at all, almost like you’re not giving this franchise a chance to shine.
And you released it the same day as Uncharted and the day before Persona 5 ports
— MoSbratto! (@PierMemon) October 19, 2022
Of course, this isn’t the first time that the sequel to 2007’s The World Ends With You has been released on PC, as its initial release in 2021 saw it dropping on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in July and the Epic Games Store in September.
The thing is, who even uses the Epic Games Store on PC, am I right? The answer is, according to Statista, 194 million people in 2021. That’s actually 60 million more active users than Steam, which Statista reported as 132 million in 2021. I’m pretty sure that has something to do with Fortnite, but that’s just a gamer theory.
Upon release, NEO: The World Ends With You was welcomed with glowing reviews, with review score aggregator Metacritic showing a score of 80/100 for the game in terms of critic scores, and 8.3/10 for audience scores. The late Mike Fahey said in his review of the game in 2021:
When I’m playing Neo: The World Ends With You, I’m smiling. Whether I’m running Rindo Kanade and his pack of teen misfits through the streets of Shibuya battling monstrous living graffiti beasts and picking up the latest fashions, or just rifling through the menus fiddling with equipment loadouts, I’m doing it all with the biggest grin on my face. Neo: TWEWY just makes me happy like that.
And that’s exactly it. NEO: The World Ends With You absolutely rocks, and makes you feel good while you play it. Eliciting a feeling like that is hard, but it’s possible.
If you’ve been waiting for this one to drop on Steam, you don’t have to wait any longer. You can grab it now for 25% off right here.
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